Founder of Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex Arrested in Albania

Faruk Fatih Özer disappeared in 2021, taking funds from 400,000 users.

By Eliza Gkritsi

Aug 30, 2022 at 11:15 a.m. UTC

Updated Aug 30, 2022 at 2:27 p.m. UTC

CDCROP: İstanbul City in Turkey (Shutterstock) — The founder of a Turkish crypto "exit scam" has been arrested in Albania. (Shutterstock)

Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi is CoinDesk's crypto mining reporter based in Asia.

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The founder of Thodex, one of Turkey's largest crypto exchanges that turned out to be an exit scam, has been arrested in Albania, according to statement from the Turkish Interior Ministry on Tuesday.

Faruk Fatih Özer's exchange suddenly went offline last year, and the founder and CEO fled to Albania, leaving almost 400,000 members in the dark and without access to their funds. Users had deposited $2 billion in cryptocurrencies in the exchange, Cumhuriyet, Turkey's oldest newspaper, reported on Tuesday.

Albanian Minister of Internal Affairs Bledar Çuçi told his Turkish counterpart that Özer had been arrested in Vlora and his identity was confirmed by biometric results. Proceedings for his extradition have begun.

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