Following the extradition by the Albanian Ministry of Justice, Faruk Fatih Özer, the founder and CEO of Turkey’s first global cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, along with 7 other defendants, including 21 detainees, stood trial on charges of fraud. The Public Prosecutor announced its final opinion on the case, requesting a prison sentence of 12,142 years to 40,462 years for Özer.
Public Prosecutor Reveals Final Opinion
Faruk Fatih Özer, along with 5 detained defendants and some of the plaintiffs, as well as their lawyers, attended the hearing at the 9th Heavy Penal Court of Anatolia. Two of the detained defendants participated in the hearing via the Audio and Visual Information System, where the Public Prosecutor revealed its final opinion.
In the final opinion, it was requested that Faruk Fatih Özer be sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 12,142 years to 40,462 years for establishing an organization with the intention of committing a crime, fraud through the use of information systems as tools for banks or credit institutions, and money laundering of assets derived from fraud committed by traders or company executives and cooperative managers.
Previously, Özer had been tried for various crimes, including fraud, and had received his first prison sentence in the case. The court had reduced Özer’s sentence. Özer had been sentenced to 7 months and 15 days of imprisonment for the crime of “smuggling” under the Tax Procedure Law, as he had not provided the requested documents to the Tax Audit Board regarding his company. The court had decided to defer the announcement of the verdict.
Arrested on April 23
Özer, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, who was wanted as a fugitive defendant in the case, was captured in Albania on August 30, 2022. Following the extradition decision of the Dıraç Court of Appeal in Albania, Özer was brought back to the country on April 20 and was arrested by the duty judge at the Anatolian Justice Palace on April 23.
