Faruk Fatih Özer, founder of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, found dead in prison while serving 11,196-year sentence for massive $2.6 billion crypto fraud

Faruk Fatih Özer, the founder and former CEO of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, has been found dead in his prison cell while serving a sentence of 11,196 years. According to local media reports, Özer was found hanging in the bathroom of his single‑occupancy cell. He had been held at the Tekirdağ F-Type High Security Closed Prison, a facility that has faced criticism from human rights groups for its use of solitary confinement and small-group isolation.

An Istanbul court in September 2023 found Faruk Fatih Özer, along with his brother and sister, guilty of aggravated fraud, money laundering, and leading a criminal organization. The verdict came two years after Thodex’s sudden collapse, which left over 400,000 users with estimated losses totaling $2.6 billion, according to a 2021 Chainalysis report.

"An investigation has been opened on this matter and is ongoing. The exact cause of death will be determined as a result of the investigation," Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said in a statement. "But currently, the initial findings indicate that it was a suicide."




Özer founded Thodex in 2017, and the platform rapidly gained traction in Turkey. In April 2021, it abruptly froze withdrawals and subsequently collapsed. Özer fled to Albania but was extradited back to Turkey the following year to face charges.

A Turkish court sentenced Özer to an extraordinary 11,196 years in prison for fraud and related crimes. The sentence reflected both the scale of the scandal and captured attention in Turkey’s legal system, where penalties are added cumulatively for each offense.