Turkey has launched an international manhunt for the founder of one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms after payments were “frozen” to customers, as the CEO left the country.
The Ministry of Justice has issued that Interpol will help find and return Thodex CEO Farouk Fatih Ozer from Albania to Turkey, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.
Turkish police have arrested 62 people in eight cities, including Constantinople, where Thodex is based.
In a statement from an unknown location on Thursday, Ozer promised to repay the investors and return to Turkey to face justice later. The government blocked the company’s accounts and police raided its headquarters in Constantinople.
The losses could reach $2 billion, and a victim’s lawyer said the money invested by some 390.000 of the active users had “evaporated”.
Thodex was part of the “cryptocurrency boom” that attracted thousands of Turkish investors, seeking to protect their savings from rampant inflation and volatile Turkish currency.
