Fugitive Thodex Exchange Founder Extradited Back to Turkey From Albania

• Local police took the 27-year-old under custody upon his arrival at Istanbul Airport.
• Trading and withdrawals were unexpectedly suspended in April 2021.

After two years of inactivity, the founder of the defunct Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex has been extradited home. Albania has deported Faruk Fatih Ozer, the CEO, and founder of the defunct crypto exchange Thodex, to Turkey.

According to Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s state-run news organization, local police took the 27-year-old under custody upon his arrival at Istanbul Airport on April 20 on charges of fraud and money laundering. Also, the account said that Ozer was taken into custody by the Istanbul Airport Police Department after his jet departed from Tirana, the capital of Albania, in the morning.

Moreover, the arrested entrepreneur will reportedly get medical attention and then be transferred to the Istanbul Police. 

$2 Billion Exit Scam 

After allegations of police searches on the Thodex exchange’s premises on April 22, 2021, trading and withdrawals were unexpectedly suspended, nearly two years before Ozer’s arrival in Turkey.

Moreover, as time went on, the platform’s customer service team gradually became unreachable. The company’s CEO, Faruk Fatih zer, has apparently left Turkey for Albania and deleted his Twitter account.

Publications in Ozer’s home country of Turkey have suggested that he stole at least $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies from the exchange Thodex before the abrupt exit. Ozer allegedly fled to Albania after Interpol issued a red alert for his arrest.

Furthermore, in August of 2022, around a year after Thodex’s demise, the company’s fugitive founder was apprehended in Albania. The arrested CEO’s siblings were among the 62 persons detained by Turkish authorities investigating an alleged Thodex exit scheme.

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