Thodex: Mob celeb Sedat Peker claims missing crypto CEO bribed minister
Sedat Peker — the exiled Turkish mafia kingpin causing chaos for Erdoğan — has now accused the government’s Interior Minister of taking kickbacks from missing crypto exchange founder Faith Faruk Özer, reports Ahval.
In April, Thodex chief Özer reportedly fled Turkey to Albania with $2 billion in investor funds after taking the platform offline without warning.
Despite the arrest of his siblings, Özer remains at large and wanted by Turkish authorities for alleged fraud. There’s been no significant developments in the case over the past two months.
“… The man [Özer] escaped with $2 billion, you made a few fake arrests,” tweeted Peker. “… I will tell you how many liras you received.”
Peker says he’s based himself in Dubai for the past year, having left Turkey in early 2020 to avoid charges over alleged gang-related activity.
- Peker has attracted over a million followers on both YouTube and Twitter since release from prison in 2014.
- He began posting supposed proof of government corruption with a nine-part YouTube series in May.
- Peker detailed the alleged Thodex kickback in a June 10 Twitter thread.
According to TubeBuddy, Peker’s series of videos about the Turkish government has raked in over 100 million views in the last 30 days — about 60% of his overall total.
Turkish journalist and documentarian Can Dundar explained in a recent Washington Post op-ed: “Imagine El Chapo as a YouTuber or Al Capone publishing his memoirs. That’s the kind of impact Peker’s confessions have had in Turkey.”
Turkey pushing to extradite Peker
Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu is the public face for the Thodex investigation, having made regular statements to local press in the manhunt’s early days.
During a television spot with Turkish broadcaster NTV in late April, Soylu reportedly claimed Özer had only skipped the country with around $180 million from Thodex.
This contradicted earlier reports indicating as much as $2 billion had gone missing.
As noted by Alarabiya News, Soylu said “when [Özer] is caught with the red [Interpol] notice, we have extradition agreements with a large part of these countries. God willing, he will be caught and he will be returned.”
A week earlier, Soylu denied any connection to Özer after photos resurfaced of the pair at a 2019 summit.
“I do not know the person concerned, Faruk Fatih Özer,” tweeted Soylu (automatically translated). “He came to the appointment we gave to young software developers on December 23, 2019, through a relative.
[Read more: Victims of $3.6B crypto Ponzi still believe they’ll get their money back]
“His name is not on the appointment list and he was only taken to the room during the photo shoot,” said Soylu.
Peker previously claimed Soylu had tipped him off to incoming police persecution, which triggered the mobster to flee to Dubai.
In May, Soylu reportedly fought back with calls to charge Peker with slander.