Two brothers and a ‘disgraced’ Turkish crypto pioneer who fled to Albania have been given sentences totaling 11,196 years in prison, according to the state news agency Anadolu.
According to the prosecution, Thodex CEO Faruk Fatih Ozer, 29, should serve 40,562 years in jail for fraud, money laundering, and founding a criminal organization.
According to Anadolu, Ozer told the court, “If I were to start a criminal organization, I would not have acted so amateurishly.”
Following a quick trial, his two brothers, Serap and Guven, each received the same penalty, according to Turkish media reports.
Since Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 to support its attempts to enter the European Union, it has become increasingly customary to impose lengthy prison terms, which are well-known in the country.
The initial claim that Ozer had left Turkey in April 2021 with $2 billion in investor assets has subsequently been refuted.
When Ozer left Turkey in April 2021, according to the prosecution, he transferred user assets totaling 250 million liras—roughly $30 million at the time—to three secret accounts. A large portion of the money ultimately ended up in a Malta bank.
The Ozer brothers allegedly damaged clients to the tune of 356 million liras, according to the indictment.
The case made national headlines since it occurred at the same time as Turkey’s cryptocurrency boom, which has now largely receded as a result of stricter government regulation.
As a line of defense against a severe decline in the value of the lira that started more than two years ago, Turks started turning to various cryptocurrencies.
After being photographed meeting with ultranationalist government supporters, Ozer’s notoriety increased.
A global arrest warrant from Interpol led to his capture in Albania last year.