Albanian court orders extradition of fugitive crypto boss
ELBASAN
An Albanian court has ordered the extradition of Faruk Fatih Özer to Türkiye following his arrest by Albanian police for defrauding investors on his cryptocurrency platform, Thodex.
Deciding that the evidence collected at the time of Özer’s arrest should also be handed over to the Turkish authorities, judge Elis Dine noted that Özer has the right to appeal to a higher court within 15 days.
The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Aug. 30 that Özer was caught in Albania.
A total of 356 million Turkish liras ($ 20 million) worth of loss occurred from the crimes committed by the cryptocurrency platform Koineks Technolocy Inc., known as Thodex.
In the 268-page indictment filed by Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, 21 defendants are charged with “establishing and managing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime,” “fraud by using information systems, banks or credit institutions as a tool,” and “fraud of company executives and cooperative managers and crime of laundering property values resulting from crime.”
A prison sentence of 40,564 years is sought for each of the 21 defendants.
The Istanbul-based Thodex exchange launched aggressive campaigns to lure investors. It first pledged to distribute luxury cars through a flashy advertising campaign featuring famous Turkish models.
