The founder and former CEO of the collapsed Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex has been extradited from Albania to Turkey, where he has been detained by local police upon arrival at Istanbul Airport. Faruk Fatih Ozer is facing charges of fraud and money laundering following reports that he allegedly fled Turkey with at least $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency stolen from Thodex, which abruptly halted trading and withdrawals almost two years ago amid reports of police raids at its offices.
Ozer’s arrival in Turkey comes a year after his arrest in Albania in August 2022 and the subsequent detention of 62 people over alleged involvement in the Thodex exit scam, including some siblings of the then-missing CEO.