Fraudster Who Defrauded Cryptocurrency Investors Out of $4 Billion Caught in Turkey.

A fraudster who has been wanted for years for defrauding investors out of $4 billion has been caught in Turkey after changing his name.

According to numerous reports in the Turkish press, Andreas Szakacs, one of the founders of the controversial cryptocurrency company OmegaPro, was arrested in Turkey in July on charges of organizing a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors out of $4 billion.

Originally from Sweden, Szakacs reportedly changed his name to Emre Avcı after becoming a Turkish citizen. He denied the accusations, claiming that he only worked in finance and marketing.

The arrest came after a tip from an anonymous informant on June 28. Following raids on two villas in the Beykoz district of Istanbul, Szakacs was detained on July 9, and was arrested on July 10 on charges of “fraud using information systems, banks or credit institutions as a tool.”

During the raids, Turkish authorities seized computers and 32 cold wallets, which are typically used to store cryptocurrencies offline.

Despite Szakacs reportedly not providing the passwords, investigators were able to track the movements of $160 million in cryptocurrencies.

The collapse of OmegaPro in late 2022, which coincided with the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, left investors around the world in financial ruin.

One of the key witnesses in the case, Dutch citizen Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh, told investigators that he lost $7 million in the fraud scheme. Mohaghegh also claimed to have represented 3,000 affected investors, who lost $103 million in the alleged scam, through power of attorney.