Accused of massive fraud, founder of Thodex cryptocurrency firm detained in Albania

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Sought in Türkiye as part of an investigation into the Thodex cryptocurrency trading platform, its founder, Fatih Özer, has been detained in Vlora, Albania.

Proceedings for the extradition of Özer, whom Türkiye had an Interpol red notice against him, were underway, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

Özer went abroad on April 20, 2021, after shutting down the Thodex platform, which was known as the "third largest cryptocurrency exchange" in the country.

He is accused of defrauding 2 to 10 billion dollars of the platform's 400,000 users.

What happened?

Özer founded the platform under the name Koineks Teknoloji Inc. in 2017. Because the company had a bad reputation due to problems in cryptocurrency trading, he founded another company named Thodex in 2019.

After a new legal arrangement about cryptocurrency trading in Türkiye, problems began to occur on the Thodex platform, including delayed and failed money transfers.

Transactions on the platform stopped completely on April 19, 2021. Releasing a statement on that day, the firm said "Dogecoin deposits and withdrawals were temporarily under maintenance."

Having closed his social media accounts and the Thodex website, Özer reportedly left Türkiye for Albania on April 20.

The İstanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office found that the company was active in more than 120 countries.

Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu announced that Özer's 31 million lira of deposits in three banks in Türkiye had been seized.

Photos with ministers

After he fled the country, Özer's photos with Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu surfaced. In both photos, Özer and ministers are seen with a third person in what appears to be the ministers' offices.

Both ministers had said on Twitter that they didn't know Özer and he entered their room together with people they knew.

Çavuşoğlu and Özer

(AS/VK)