Cryptocurrency boss and his two brothers have been sentenced to 11,196 years in jail each in Turkey. They have been accused of defrauding investors of millions of dollars, as per media reports. Faruk, who was a high-school dropout was the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange Thodex which was established in 2017 when he was just 22.Turkey is known to have strict and extraordinary prison sentences, This became even more common after Turkey removed the death penalty in 2004 in a bid to join the European UnionPrison sentences of Ozer siblings Prosecutors had asked for Thodex boss Faruk Fatih Ozer, 29, to be sentenced to 40,562 years in prison for money laundering, fraud, and establishing a criminal organisation.Faruk Fatih Ozer, 29, fled to Albania in 2021 with investor assets after his Thodex exchange suddenly collapsed and was extracted back to the country in June this year.“If I were to establish a criminal organisation, I would not have acted so amateurishly,” Anadolu quoted Ozer as telling the court. Moreover, he also said that he is smart enough to lead any institution on Earth.His two brothers, Serap and Guven, received the same sentence, which was issued late Thursday after a brief trial for multiple crimes against 2027 people, leading to the total number of years in the judgment.Details about Thodex fraudProsecutors said Ozer had transferred 250 million liras in user assets (worth about $30 million at the time) to three secret accounts when he fled Turkey in April 2021, with much of the money ending up in a Malta bank.The prosecutors indictment, however, estimates total losses to Thodex investors at 356 million liras.The indictment said the Ozer brothers had caused 356 million liras of damage to clients in all.He was arrested last year in Albania on an international arrest warrant from Interpol.
