Faruk Fatih Özer, known as the "king" of cryptocurrencies and founder of the former platform "Thodex", has been found dead in his cell in Tekirdag prison, in western Turkey.
According to Turkish media reports, his body was discovered during a routine check by prison officers. He had been hanging in the bathroom of his cell and, despite the immediate intervention of medical teams, could not be saved. Authorities have opened an official investigation to determine the circumstances of the incident, with suicide being the main possibility being investigated.
The news has been confirmed by Turkish state broadcaster TRT, while an autopsy is expected to clarify the exact causes of death.
Faruk Özer was arrested on August 30, 2022 in Albania, following an international arrest warrant issued by Turkish authorities. He was extradited to Turkey in April 2023, where in September of that year he was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison on charges of money laundering, fraud and forming a criminal organization. The prosecution had initially requested a record sentence of 40,562 years in prison.
Founded in 2017, cryptocurrency trading platform Thodex suddenly shut down in April 2021, causing panic and anger among thousands of investors. According to Turkish authorities, its collapse caused an economic damage of around $2 billion, affecting approximately 391,000 citizens.
Faruk Fatih Özer, born in 1994, was considered the mastermind behind one of the biggest financial scandals in modern Turkish history. Investigations are expected to reveal whether his death was an act of suicide or related to other yet unknown circumstances.
