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The first court hearing in the high-profile asset theft case of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex took place on Monday, June 12.The hearing was attended by previously extradited
Faruk Fatih Özer, the fugitive founder of the cryptocurrency company, had previously been extradited from Albania to Turkey.
In his speech at the trial, the businessman defended all the suspects, claiming that the Thodex exchange and its staff were victims of a smear campaign.
Ozer repeated his past statement that he left the country for the sole purpose of finding investors overseas and entering into partnership agreements beneficial to the exchange and its customers.
“The fact that my employees were jailed for two years during the preliminary investigation phase, is a black mark for the Turkish legal system,” Ozer proclaimed in court.
Recall that a report prepared by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office said the 21 defendants in the Thodex case were charged with “establishing and managing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime,” “fraud using information systems as a tool of theft,” as well as “laundering of criminal proceeds”. According to prosecutors, Thodex founder Farouk Fatih Ozer and some of the company’s employees could face
life in prison.