Thodex, a Turkey-based crypto platform just went offline to initiate a temporary closure. The company claimed to address abnormal fluctuations in its user accounts.
Its founder, Faruk Fatih Ozer is reportedly missing with about $2BN crypto revenue. The incident left Thodex’s more than 391,000 active users defrauded.
It’s indeed the very first large-scale cryptocurrency fraud case in the Turkish market.
The Turkish trading platform started operating in 2017 with recent success. But recent shutdowns occurred in multiple service sectors. It declared to allow outside investments to expand the current limits. However, users started to face problems in transactions shortly after the statement.
Not to mention, the event coincided with the Central Bank’s banishment on digital currency. The intended law is said to go into effect from April 30.
Turkish authorities have already declared arrest warrants for 78 suspects. So far, police took 62 people in custody from eight different provinces. However, relevant departments are desperate to seek the arrest of Ozer.
Multiple local news agencies are trying to dig deep to locate OZER. Demiroren published airport footage to confirm his leave from the country on Friday. Currently, several reports claim his escape to Albania.
“Istanbul airport footage claims Ozer has fled the country” (Source – AFP)
Interpol to collaborate with the Turkish authority already issued a red notice for the CEO.
Thousands of users filed complaints against the company. Investors confirmed total blackout in accessing the accounts. They are fearing for their savings to become completely irretrievable.
Even a lawyer explicitly filed a criminal complaint against Ozer with conceivable details. It reported 390,000 active users among Thodex’s 400,000 accounts.
But Ozer seems to dispute the allegation after leaving the country. The missing CEO happens to decline everything on his official Twitter page.
He only claimed the situation to affect its 30,000 users only. And the reported $2BN of losses remained ‘unfound’ – according to him. He also claimed to visit Albania for business meetings – according to some reports.
Ozer even revealed his intention to return to Turkey within a few days. He would even cooperate with the judicial authority to figure out the truth.
The case took place right after the massive downfall of cryptocurrency value in the market. It’s still to see whether Ozer will return to Turkey by himself following the warrant.
