Faruk Fatih Özer, the CEO of one of the largest crypto exchanges in Turkey, Thodex, was sentenced to 11,196 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison.
Thodex was one of the biggest crypto outlets in Turkey before April 2021, when Özer disappeared. More than 400,000 members were left without access to their money: a total of $2 billion in cryptocurrencies.
Özer was suspected of having fled Turkey and after Interpol issued an arrest warrant for him, he was arrested in Albania last year.
It is said that Özer acted fraudulently from the beginning and that Thodex was a criminal organization. Thodex's fall sent shockwaves across Turkey, where the crypto was widely used to protect savings from high inflation and the devaluation of the lira.
The court in Istanbul convicted Özer of various charges including fraud, leading a criminal organization and money laundering.
Such punishment may come as a surprise to many people, but they are quite common in Turkey.
In 2016, Fethullah Gülen, leader of a social and religious movement and opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, was sentenced to 1,900 years in prison on charges of attempting to stage a coup.
Six years later, Adnan Oktar (a cult leader), who was convicted of a number of crimes, including sexual assault, was sentenced to more than 8,600 years in prison.
