Faruk Fatih Özer was sentenced to 11 thousand 196 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison, in the case where 21 defendants, seven of whom were detained, were tried on charges of fraud related to Thodex.
Özer, who was extradited from Albania by the Albanian Ministry of Justice and arrested in Turkey, was among the five detained defendants who attended the hearing at the Anatolian 9th High Criminal Court. The other two detained defendants attended the hearing via video conference.
Presenting his 22-page opinion on the merits of the case, the prosecutor stated that Thodex was founded on September 14, 2017 with a capital of 400,000 liras, and that the company was established from the very beginning with the intention of deceiving and defrauding customers who want to invest in crypto assets.
In the opinion, it was stated that customers who opened an account on the platform saw the values of the crypto assets they bought or sold according to their instructions, but these values did not have any real equivalent.
According to the opinion, the company initially properly executed customers' buy and sell orders to gain trust, then made advertising agreements with famous names, distributed gifts or bonus cryptocurrencies, and organized lotteries with very expensive prizes. In the opinion, it was noted that the main purpose of the company was to attract more customers and money, and to defraud more people.
In the opinion, it was stated that the total loss of 2,027 victims was 257 million 862 thousand 432 liras. In the opinion, it was emphasized that in the light of the findings and evidence collected, it was clearly understood that Thodex was actually a criminal organization, and it was noted that the defendant Faruk Fatih Özer, the leader of the criminal organization, carried out his actions consistently.
*This is not investment advice.