A Turkish appellate court validated criminal charges of fraud and money laundering against Faruk Fatih Özer yet removed prison punishments from the verdict.
The Istanbul Regional Court of Justice sent Faruk Fatih Özer from prison because he now faces no organized crime penalties following his historic 11,190-year sentence. The local news outlets say he was imprisoned since his charges for deceiving investors and money laundering.
A retrial will happen at the lower court to analyze specific parts of the case as per the court’s current decision. The court ordered Özer to stay in prison as punishment for his surviving convictions despite reducing his previous sentence.
A Multi-Billion Dollar Crypto Fraud
Thodex functioned as a major Turkish cryptocurrency exchange until April 2021 when it suddenly blocked withdrawals and stranded hundreds of thousands of users across the platform. When authorities discovered Özer had escaped to Albania they started searching for him in other countries. The authorities arrested him in 2022 and officially transferred him from Albania to Turkey for legal prosecution in 2023.
Authorities charged Özer for operating the largest crypto financial scam ever in Turkish history by tricking more than 400,000 investors out of $2 billion. The system processed $585 million each day until officers closed it down unexpectedly.
At first Özer declared Thodex suffered a cyberattack losing all its funds while pledging to restore client assets. He tried to hide his funds as authorities detected his organization’s money laundering amount. His vanishing drove people across the country to demonstrate while investors needed justice and their money returned.
Legal Battle Continues
The legal team representing Özer is demanding more mercy from the courts because he received an unreasonably harsh sentence. His reduced charges brought him minor legal success yet he must serve years behind bars for committing fraud and money laundering.
The new verdict takes away organized crime-related charges but the longer impact of the retrial needs further investigation. The judge at the lower court can decrease Özer’s overall punishment based on newly discovered reasons for mercy.
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