The founder of Turkish cryptocurrency platform Thodex, Faruk Fatih Ozer, 29, along with his two brothers, Serap and Guven, have each been sentenced to a staggering 11,196 years in prison.
On Friday, the Anadolu state news agency reported this update, which is the final result of a well-known case that caused a lot of surprise and concern in the cryptocurrency community.
The prosecutors had originally sought a jaw-dropping 40,562-year prison term for Faruk Fatih Ozer, accusing him of a litany of crimes including money laundering, fraud, and establishing a criminal organization.
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Turkey abolished the death penalty
During the trial, Ozer was quoted by Anadolu as saying, “If I were to establish a criminal organization, I would not have acted so amateurishly.”
The verdict was delivered late on Thursday after a relatively brief trial, as reported by Turkish media outlets.
Turkey is known for its practice of imposing exceptionally long prison sentences, a trend that gained prominence after the country abolished the death penalty in 2004 as part of its efforts to align with European Union standards.
Ozer took about 356 million Turkish liras in total
Faruk Fatih Ozer made headlines in April 2021 when he was reported to have fled Turkey with a disputed amount of $2 billion in investor assets.
Prosecutors alleged that Ozer had funneled 250 million Turkish liras (equivalent to around $30 million at the time) into three secret accounts before fleeing the country. Much of this money reportedly found its way into a bank in Malta.
The indictment against the Ozer brothers detailed the immense financial harm caused to clients, amounting to 356 million Turkish liras in total.
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Crypto ban: Nigerian government disappointing its youths
Meanwhile, for a country that is second place in the Bitcoin market globally, it is puzzling how the Nigerian government without prior notice banned cryptocurrency transactions.
The Central Bank’s order to financial institutions to close all accounts transacting in cryptocurrency has raised speculations.
Some have linked the ban of cryptocurrency to the End SARS protests; the government stopped funds from coming through local payment platforms to support the demonstrations
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