Turkey crypto exchange CEO, Özer, sentenced to 11,196 years for $2bn fraud

Faith Özer, the founder and CEO of Thodex, a failed Turkish crypto exchange, has been sentenced to 11,196 years in prison for fraud-related crimes.

Özer, according to reports, was sentenced alongside his brother Güven Özer and sister Serap Özer.

The three siblings were found guilty of aggravated fraud, leading a criminal organization, and money laundering and consequently handed similar-length jail terms.

In addition, they were also found guilty of organizing and managing criminal organizations and money laundering. Interestingly, Fatih maintained that he was innocent despite the weight of his court sentence.

In a statement at court, he bragged about starting the company at the age of 22 while defending his integrity stating that he is not a criminal.

“I am smart enough to lead any institution on Earth,” “That is evident in this company I established at the age of 22. I wouldn’t have acted so amateurishly if this were a criminal organization,” Fatih said.

In addition to the sentence, the court also imposed a fine of 135 million Turkish liras (equivalent to $5 million) on the defendants. Before its collapse, Thodex was one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in Turkey boasting about 400,000 users.

In April 2021, the exchange went offline, and the aforementioned number of users were locked out of their accounts and unable to withdraw their combined funds of about $2 billion.

Following the collapse, Fatih escaped from the country and fled to Albania. However, he was arrested in August 2022 and subsequently deported back to Turkey in April 2023.