Andreas Szakacs, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency platform OmegaPro, was arrested in Turkey last month, accused of participating in a $4 billion Ponzi scheme, according to Turkish media reports on August 22.
Szakacs, a Swedish citizen who later became a Turkish national and changed his name to Emre Avci, has denied the allegations, asserting that he worked in finance and marketing, as reported by the Istanbul-based daily BirGün.
During the arrest, the Turkish gendarmerie reportedly confiscated computers and 32 cold wallets, though Szakacs did not provide the passwords. Despite this, authorities were able to trace cryptocurrency transactions amounting to $160 million, according to BirGün.
OmegaPro allegedly began shutting down user accounts on November 7, 2022, and ceased withdrawals by November 22, around the same time the crypto exchange FTX collapsed. The platform had been flagged by regulators in several countries, including France, Belgium, Spain, and Argentina, for potential fraud, though it did not target U.S. customers.
Szakacs’s arrest followed a tip-off from an anonymous informant on June 28. Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh, a Dutch national, provided a statement to the gendarmerie, claiming he lost $7 million in the scheme and represented 3,000 investors who collectively lost $103 million.
In his defense, Szakacs claimed that OmegaPro went bankrupt in late 2022, leading to significant losses for him and his team. He asserted that they compensated many victims before the bankruptcy.
Szakacs stated that he earned $100,000 monthly through his work in finance and marketing and that he acquired Turkish citizenship through construction investments, although he couldn’t recall the locations of these investments. Despite his defense, the Beykoz Criminal Court of Peace ordered his arrest on July 10 on fraud charges, and the investigation is ongoing.
Szakacs’s lawyers argued that the complainants were aware of the risks associated with Forex trading, emphasizing that losses are inherent in such markets. However, he was reportedly arrested on July 9 after raids on two villas in Beykoz, Istanbul, on charges of “fraud using information systems, banks, or credit institutions.”
