Faruk Fetih Özer – Founder of the defunct Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex – has reportedly denied all fraud accusations against him during a court appearance in his homeland. The 29-year-old allegedly fled Turkey shortly after his entity halted trading services and shut down its official website.

Rumors indicated that he pocketed over $2 billion in users’ funds, which was labeled as the biggest crypto scam in the country’s history. Özer was detained in Albania last summer and later deported to Turkey, where a legal process will determine whether he had a hand in the collapse and his possible prison sentence.

‘I Was Framed’

According to one of the leading Turkish media outlets – Sabah, the trial against Özer started with a hearing that lasted around 11 hours. The man claimed the accusations that he defrauded numerous Thodex customers and drained their assets were false, adding he “was framed.”

He revealed that the initial purpose of his company was to engage in e-commerce. At a later stage, though, Özer got intrigued by cryptocurrencies and decided to shift the firm in that direction.

“I started mobile transactions with the software developers I added to my team. My entire life became intertwined with the digital world in order to establish a cryptocurrency exchange,” he added.

Another reason why Thodex delved into the digital asset universe was the fact that Turkey lacked proper crypto companies in 2017, Özer explained.

According to him, the company’s transactions were carried out automatically, whereas he was the “authorized” person to supervise that activity:

“I personally checked the transaction made on the company platform to the banks every week in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. I was the only one doing this to ensure there were no security holes.”

Özer maintained that some of his employees, including two of his siblings, were “unlawfully” imprisoned.

He added that upon signing an initial membership agreement, he had stated he should not be held responsible for any damage that might occur in the future. Özer said the clients who used the company’s services were aware of that risk.

Thodex’s Demise and Özer’s Consecutive Journey

The Turkey-based crypto exchange ceased trading services in the spring of 2021 (four years after its founding). The news shocked the 400,000 customers of the firm, leaving them without the option to withdraw their funds. On top of that, CEO Özer was reluctant to solve the issue and did not cooperate with the domestic authorities.

Instead, he escaped the nation and reportedly pocketed more than $2 billion of users’ money. His whereabouts remained unclear for more than a year, with some sources hinting he could be hiding in Albania. The fugitive was arrested in the Balkan country in August 2022, whereas the Turkish authorities insisted on his extradition and started preparing the legal process against him.

If found guilty, Özer could be slammed with the ridiculous sentence of over 40,000 years in jail.