Faruk Fatih Özer, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, was found dead in his prison cell, according to early reports. The 30-year-old may have taken his own life, though officials have not confirmed the cause, and an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding his death.
Thodex, founded in 2017, rapidly became one of Turkey's most popular crypto exchanges during the crypto boom, attracting hundreds of thousands of users with promises of low fees and wide token listings. However, in April 2021, the platform suddenly went offline without warning, locking users out of their accounts and causing chaos in the Turkish crypto market. Investors claimed losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Following the exchange's collapse, Özer fled Turkey and was later located in Albania after an international manhunt. He was extradited to Turkey in 2022 to face multiple charges, including leading a criminal organization, aggravated fraud, and money laundering. Turkish prosecutors accused him of orchestrating one of the country's biggest financial frauds, using Thodex to misappropriate customer funds and conceal illicit transfers.
In September 2023, a Turkish court sentenced Özer to a staggering 11,196 years in prison—one of the longest sentences ever handed down in the country. His siblings and several senior Thodex executives were also convicted and given lengthy prison terms for their involvement in the scheme.
Özer's death marks a dramatic end to a saga that has haunted Turkey's cryptocurrency industry for years. The Thodex scandal played a key role in shaping public perception and prompted Turkish regulators to tighten oversight of digital asset exchanges, introducing stricter compliance requirements and investor protections.
Authorities have yet to issue an official statement regarding the incident, but a detailed forensic and judicial review is ongoing to establish whether foul play was involved or if the death was indeed a suicide.
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