Mastermind of Ponzi scheme game sent to court for arrest

ISTANBUL

Mehmet Aydın, the mastermind of the Çiftlik Bank (Farm Bank) Ponzi scheme game, was sent to court on July 7 for his arrest after his testimony was taken by Istanbul police.

Aydın, who surrendered to the Turkish Embassy in Sao Paulo on July 1 after being on the run for three years, was brought to Turkey from Brazil in handcuffs and in the company of police officers and was detained at the Istanbul Airport as soon as he landed.

A special police team equipped with 60 pages of prepared questions participated in his interrogation, asking him first about the fate of the remaining 322 million Turkish Liras ($37.1 million) from the money he collected from the victims.

Aydın was then asked why he transferred the money he collected to Turkish Cyprus and why he appointed unqualified people, such as his former bodyguard, who was inexperienced, to the top management of his company.

He was also asked to explain the people he assisted while he was hiding out, including details of his contacts in Uruguay and Brazil.

Aydın is accused of several crimes, including “establishing a criminal organization” and “fraud” and faces up to 75,260 years in prison.

Aydın, who was 26 years old at the time, created an online scheme in 2016 inspired by a social media game, FarmVille, and collected over 1.1 billion liras (around $131 million) from more than 132,000 people and fled the country in 2018.

The prosecutor’s office prepared an indictment against 48 suspects, including Aydın, as part of the investigation conducted against the founders and managers of the Farm Bank.