An international arrest warrant has been put out in Turkey for the founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform 'Thodex'.
The individual in question is Faruk Fatih Ozer, who is believed by authorities to have fled to Albania with around $2 billion. Turkey is now seeking extradition of Ozer from Albania back to Turkey while Ozer says he plans to return to Turkey regardless as he has nothing to hide.
Ozer has denied all charges against him, but it has now been revealed that international crime agency Interpol have also put out a red-notice against him.
In early dawn raids, 62 people linked to the platform in Turkey were arrested, with another 16 individuals being sought. Ozer's bank accounts have been frozen, and the Turkish police have released an image of him boarding a flight in an apparent attempt to flee the country.
Thodex had been operating as a cryptocurrency platform for some time. A crypto platform is simply a place where individuals come together to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. The alarm was raised after Thodex put out a message saying it needed time to arrange an outside investment, it then suddenly stopped trading. Turkey claims that Ozer has simply made off with the money that was in the platform.
This isn't the first time there has been a major incident involving a cryptocurrency platform.
In 2018 the exchange known as 'Coincheck', which was based in Japan, revealed that over $500 million worth of cryptocurrencies had vanished. Similarly, in 2014 the exchange platform Mt Gox lost $400 million worth of crypto.
In both of these cases, it was revealed that the crypto had been lost as a result of outside hackers hacking into the platforms and then transferring the currencies to different wallets. In neither case were the owners of the platforms themselves believed to be behind the theft.
Once cryptocurrency is stolen, it can be incredibly difficult for it to be returned. This is because of the anonymity of the system itself, and the ease with which it crosses international boundaries and legal jurisdictions.
[h/t: BBC]
COMMENTS