Faruk Fatih Ozer, former CEO and founder of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, found dead in his cell Thodex, which had gone bankrupt, causing a huge scandal in the country. According to Turkish media, Özer was found hanged in the bathroom of his cell in a maximum security prison in Tekirdag.

Authorities are treating the incident as a possible suicide, while his body has been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy. The prosecutor has ordered a preliminary investigation to determine the exact circumstances of death.

The Thodex case shocked Turkey in 2021, when the exchange suddenly stopped trading and its founder disappeared. The company initially cited “technical work” and then the entry of a “major investor,” but it turned out that Ozer had already left the country a day before the platform was suspended.

A wave of arrests followed, warrants were issued for 78 people and over 60 were arrested, while an international warrant was issued against Ozer through Interpol. The businessman was finally arrested in 2022 by Albanian authorities while on holiday in Himara and issued in Turkey in April 2023.

In September of the same year, a Turkish court sentenced Ozer, his sister and brother to record sentences of more than 11,000 years in prison each, as well as fines of 135 million pounds (about 5 million dollars). The charges involved forming a criminal organization, fraud and money laundering.

Losses for investors are officially estimated at $24 million, although some Turkish media outlets are raising the figure to $2 billion, while analytics firm Chainalysis estimated the losses at $2.6 billion.

The Thodex case was a turning point for the cryptocurrency market in Turkey, leading authorities to tighten regulations. From February 2025, transactions over 15,000 liras (about $357) will require full user identification, while restrictions have been imposed on stablecoin transfers — up to $3,000 per day and $50,000 per month — and withdrawal delays of 48-72 hours have been imposed.

The Ministry of Finance justified the measures as necessary to combat money laundering, while in 2024 the Turkish authorities also proceeded to block access to platforms such as PancakeSwap and the CryptoRadar, citing the provision of unlicensed services with cryptocurrencies.