Crypto CEO Arrested for Stealing User Funds, Faces 40,000 Years in Prison

After being missing for over a year, fugitive cryptocurrency CEO Fatih Ozer has finally been captured in Albania. Turkish authorities are seeking Ozer and other executives and founders of the global crypto exchange Thodex for allegedly defrauding users and forming a criminal organization.

The current crypto landscape is saturated with allegations of fraud. Ozer is accused of conducting a "rug pull," which refers to a crypto project pumping a new token, convincing unassuming investors to invest, and then disappearing with it. The sentence Ozer may receive sets this one apart: a maximum of over 40,000 years in prison.

Paying a Price Thodex lost a sizeable sum of $24 million after it collapsed, according to the indictment. It is estimated that $2.6 billion will be lost due to rug pulls in 2021, according to a report by crypto analysis firm Chainalysis. Depending on who you believe, the figure may even be higher. Due to crypto's volatile nature and the opaque processes sometimes used in offloading it, it's not surprising the estimates vary so widely. It is still a serious crime to walk away with either amount of stolen money, regardless of its valuation.

The case is so serious that prosecutors are seeking 40,564 years in prison for Ozer and the other defendants. Nobody knows if it will remain that high. Turkish officials, however, aren't messing around. According to a statement from the Interior Ministry, Ozer's extradition process has already begun.

When crypto was first introduced, it was seen as a way to protect against inflation. Despite an ongoing bout of inflation in Turkey, Thodex was founded in 2017 and quickly grew to 700,000 users. The collapse of Thodex and the Turkish government's crackdown on crypto may have ended that sentiment.