Turkey: 6 arrested in cryptocurrency probe

By Filiz Kinik Oz

ISTANBUL (AA) - A Turkish court on Thursday gave orders for the arrest of six suspects as part of an ongoing investigation into cryptocurrency exchange platform Thodex.

Among those arrested are Guven Ozer and Serap Ozer, the brother and sister, respectively, of Faruk Fatih Ozer, who is the founder of Thodex.

Three of those arrested were released against a bail of 30,000 Turkish liras ($3,648) after they recorded their statement at the prosecutor's office in Istanbul. They have been banned from leaving the country.

The charges leveled on the six suspects include creating an organization for the purpose of engaging in criminal activity and fraud by using information systems, banks and credit institutions as a tool.

Istanbul prosecutors have already collected testimonies from the staff at Thodex, a platform that has allegedly upset hundreds of thousands of members.

After transaction issues, the platform shared releases on Monday and Tuesday announcing a six-hour maintenance period.

On Wednesday, it made another announcement that it would enter a partnership and that members would be able to make transactions after a five-day maintenance period.

In its aftermath, Turkey's financial crimes watchdog announced it has blocked all of the platform's bank accounts in the country as of Wednesday.

Turkey's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) initiated an investigation into the person in charge and the company.