The court sentenced him to 11,196 years in prison.
The founder of the bankrupt Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, Faruk Fatih Ozer, sentenced to more than 11,000 years in prison, has been found dead in a prison in the city of Tekirdag in western Turkey. This was reported by the Turkish television channel NTV.
According to the channel, Ozer was discovered hanging by a sheet at the bathroom door in a solitary confinement cell.
Investigators are considering the version of suicide. The body has been sent for forensic examination, and the Tekirdag prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the circumstances of the businessman’s death.
Faruk Fatih Ozer led Thodex from its founding in 2017 until its collapse in 2021. After the platform was shut down, he left Turkey and fled to Albania, where he was detained in 2022. In early 2023, Ozer was extradited back to his homeland.
In September 2023, a Turkish court sentenced him to 11,196 years in prison, finding him guilty of fraud, creating and leading a criminal organization, and money laundering.
According to the prosecutor's office, the damage from the collapse of Thodex amounted to 356 million Turkish lira (about $13 million at the time of the trial). Turkish media reported investor losses on the platform of up to $2 billion, while the analytical company Chainalysis estimated their total loss at more than $2.5 billion.
At the trial, Ozer denied the charges, claiming he had become a victim of a conspiracy.
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