A standout story in today's crypto news reports hails from Turkey, where the former CEO of the now-folded Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex has been sentenced to over 11,000 years in jail.
Faruk Fatih Özer, who founded Thodex in 2019, received a staggering 11,196-year sentence along with his two siblings and a $5 million fine.
In the wake of the sentencing of Thodex's ex-CEO, what are the best cryptos to buy now?
This comes after Thodex halted trading in April 2021 and Özer disappeared from Turkey with an estimated $2 billion of users' assets.
According to reports, the court in Istanbul convicted Özer of fraud, money laundering, and leading a criminal organization in relation to the sudden shutdown of the exchange.
Prosecutors accused Özer of orchestrating an "exit scam"--suddenly ceasing operations and stealing user funds.
Meanwhile, Özer maintained his innocence, claiming Thodex was simply a crypto company that went bankrupt with no criminal intent. However, the court handed down the lengthy sentence after finding significant evidence of systematic fraud.
Özer was eventually arrested in Albania in 2022 and extradited to Turkey to face charges earlier this year.
His case involved 21 defendants, but only 5 appeared in court. The others received lesser sentences or were acquitted due to a lack of conclusive evidence against them.
The collapse of Thodex marked a major scandal in Turkey's cryptocurrency industry. At its peak, the exchange had hundreds of thousands of users trading billions of dollars worth of crypto assets. Its failure underscored the risks posed by centralized exchanges operated without sufficient oversight.
While Özer is unlikely to serve over 11,000 years behind bars, the sentence sends a strong message from
Read more on cryptonews.com