The founder of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex Faruk Fatih Özer has been detained by Albanian authorities as they await cooperation with the Turkish government.
As the founder of the now-defunct Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex is currently being held in Albania, the story of the exchange continues. In an operation that was conducted in Tirana, the nation’s capital, around 05:30 AM (UTC) on Tuesday, August 30, local law enforcement detained Faruk Fatih Özer.
Cointelegraph Turkey said that Özer is now being taken to prison. Local officials will inform the Turkish embassy in Tirana after the first inquiry. The Albanian government and the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs are collaborating on the investigation.
Following judicial proceedings in Albania, it is anticipated that Özer will be deported to Turkey.
The narrative has been developing since last April 22, 2021, when Thodex halted all trading and withdrawals on its platform. This is the most recent development in the case. The conversation ceased as a police raid approached, and the first rumors of Özer’s disappearance spread.
Soon after, 62 people with possible ties to the exchange and its founder were imprisoned by Turkish police; the founder later acknowledged his flight to Albania, a Balkan nation. In an earlier attempt to find Özer, there had been a raid on a private house in Tirana, but it had failed.
According to sources, the Thodex affair may have had an impact on some $200,000,000,000 in investments and 391,000 customers of cryptocurrency exchanges.
The ThoDex scandal and another issue concerning the shutdown of the cryptocurrency exchange Vebitcoin were two comparable instances that Turkey had to deal with back to back. Turkish officials introduced new crypto laws, which included a ban on crypto payment alternatives, while the drama played out.
The DeFi market has seen a number of exchanges and crypto-related businesses fail in the past year.
The founders of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), who are allegedly missing, are the most recent example. Dubai has been suggested by a legal expert, but they are unsure. 3AC just declared bankruptcy but still owes numerous businesses billions of dollars.
Along with 3AC, Terraform Labs, the organization responsible for the significant fall of the LUNA token, was also under investigation for engaging in fraudulent activity.
Do Kwon, the founder, has been the subject of intense inquiry and has since disappeared. Despite the fact that Terraform’s founder was already outside of South Korea, authorities there issued a travel ban for all of the company’s workers.
