Faruk Fatih Özer once took a hardware wallet holding $2 billion worth of crypto through airport security while fleeing arrest. This week, he is entering prison to start a 11,196-year prison sentence.

Özer founded Thodex, Turkey’s once-largest crypto exchange, and used it — with help from his family — to steal untold sums from his customers.

His brother and sister received the same, 11,196-year sentence. That is, the judge noted, more years than 50 humans could physically serve and the longest sentence ever handed down by a Turkish court.

Read more: Thodex chief denies fraud, says crypto exchange was hacked

During his final days of freedom, Özer had grown his beard out to his chest and was taxiing to southern Albania with a tent, intending to camp along the coastline. Law enforcement eventually found him at a social gathering.

By then, he had no hardware wallet containing $2 billion, claiming he’d emptied it, used the funds to pay back victims, and thrown it into the Ionian Sea.

The Istanbul Superior Court didn’t even comment on that extraordinary claim when handing him and his siblings a combined 43,000-year sentence.

It took 62 arrests and coordinated law enforcement across a half dozen countries to finally find Özer. Throughout all of this and even at his final sentencing, Özer denied allegations of fraud and claimed that a third-party hacker stole funds from his exchange.

Faruk Özer is now in prison until his 11,196 year and 10 month sentence expires in the year 13,221.

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The founder and CEO of Thodex, a Turkish crypto exchange dubbed by politicians as “the biggest fraud case in the history of the [Turkish] Republic,” has denied all charges in his first court appearance and claimed he was framed instead.

Faruk Fatih Özer and 21 other defendants are accused of fraud, money laundering, and running a crime ring. Özer reportedly fled to Albania with $2 billion in user funds back in 2021 and was arrested by local authorities in August 2022. In April this year, the founder was extradited to Turkey.

According to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Özer and his employees could face up to 12,164 to 40,564 years in prison combined. However, the Thodex CEO said in his first court appearance on Monday, “I was framed. I started my company and my company was hacked,” (via local media).

Özer also stressed to prosecutors that he had sole authority in company decisions and added that his sister, Serep Özer, didn’t have de facto authority at Thodex.

Thodex founder denies all charges

When Özer fled Turkey in 2021, supposedly with $2 billion of user funds, Turkish politician and human rights lawyer Sezgin Tanrıkulu described the incident as “the biggest fraud case in the history of the [Turkish] Republic.”

“[Özer] founded a company and turned people’s expectations into a fraud,” Tanrıkulu said at the time.

However, Thodex issued a statement on its website denying the allegations and claimed that it was the victim of a slander campaign. The firm said that Özer had simply left the country to secure partnerships abroad.

The firm’s questionable explanations weren’t enough to stop Interpol from issuing a red notice which ultimately led to Özer’s arrest in Albania. Sixty other Thodex employees were initially arrested, as well.

According to Özer, however, his team shouldn’t be facing trial. “There is no other authorized person in the company besides me. Thodex’s transactions with banks were carried out automatically. 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,” he explained.

The founder added, “It is a black mark on the legal system that my employees have been imprisoned for two years.”

Seven of the 21 defendants are currently in custody, including Özer.

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