Thodex: Police arrest 62 but founder still missing with $2B crypto

A pair of handcuffs in front of a missing poster symbolising missing Thodex CEO

Police have arrested 62 suspects with alleged connections to Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, reports Anadolu Agency.

According to the state-run news agency, prosecutors issued 78 warrants after the exchange’s chief exec was accused of defrauding its 390,000 users.

Turkish police seized documents and digital materials in raids across eight provinces.

As we previously reported, Thodex suddenly stopped trade on Wednesday. The company’s 27-year-old boss Fatih Faruk Özer was spotted at Istanbul Airport the very next day — reportedly en route to Albania.

Özer’s current location is unknown but authorities accuse him of perpetrating the largest fraud in Turkey’s history, allegedly taking off with $2 billion in user funds.

As of this morning, #Thodex founder Faruk Fatih Özer is on the INTERPOL red bulletin.
Özer is believed to have escaped to Albania, a country a signatory of the European Convention on Extradition.
Özer has shutdown his cryptocurrency company abruptly fled with 2 billion USD. pic.twitter.com/vX0YNGZQVK
— Güldenay Sonumut (@Guldenay007) April 23, 2021

Thodex denied the allegations in a statement. Thodex claimed it shut down due to abnormal activity an audit had tied to 30,000 user accounts.

As for Özer’s apparent escape, Thodex says he’s on a business trip to finalize a purported deal with foreign investors.

In any case, Thodex’s alleged rug pull follows Turkey’s crackdown on crypto. A ban on using digital assets for payment comes into effect at the end of this month.