TechFlow news, November 8 — According to Cointelegraph, Faruk Fatih Özer, the former CEO of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, was found dead in prison on November 1, with initial investigations suggesting possible suicide. Özer had been sentenced in 2023 to 11,196 years in prison for orchestrating a $2 billion crypto exit scam.
In April 2021, Thodex abruptly shut down trading and withdrawal functions, after which Özer fled overseas. After more than a year on the run, he was arrested in Albania in August 2022 and extradited back to Turkey in April 2023. The case prompted the Turkish government to strengthen regulation of the cryptocurrency industry, including banning crypto payments and implementing new investor protection measures, indirectly boosting local cryptocurrency adoption and trading activity.
