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There are significant developments in the OmegaPro fraud case.

As of the summer of 2024, an apparent attempt to set up one of the founders of the fraud in Turkey, Andreas Szakacs got underway after an anonymous tip to the police that he was living in the country under an assumed name with Turkish identity papers.

An influencer for the scam, Dr. Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh, entered the country and claimed he was both a scammed investor and representing 3,000 other investors. He confirmed Szakacs identity to the police.

In early September, another cofounder, Robert Velghe, also arrived in Turkey. He began visiting Szakacs in jail pretending to want to help. In reality, he was working with Ghaffar to try to set up Szakacs and make sure he stayed in jail.

The Turkish intelligence service (MIT) got suspicious and also arrested Velghe, who now is also in jail.

Ghaffar fled the country for Dubai, but has now been warned he is also a person of interest and may not leave the country.

Two managers of a now-defunct crypto trading platform have been arrested in Istanbul, Turkish media reported Friday.

Robert Velghe, a Dutch executive at OmegaPro, was arrested Tuesday, the reports said, after Andreas Szakacs, a Swede who was among the firm's founders, was arrested in July.

According to NTV television and the pro-government daily Sabah, the managers of OmegaPro, created in 2018 and registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, had made off with $4 billion in profit from the platform, which promised investors extremely high profits.

Neither Turkish government officials nor the justice authorities responded when asked for comment.

A complaint was filed in France at the end of February on behalf of "nearly 2,000 victims" for fraud, breach of trust and deceptive commercial practices by an organised gang, according to the French association Capital.

According to the association's lawyers, OmegaPro had promised investors returns "of up to 300 percent over a maximum period of 16 months".

The company began to wobble at the end of 2022, leading to a freeze of its funds.

Its internet site disappeared in July 2023, before investors could get their money back. Instead, they were offered to reinvest their money in a new venture, Go Global.

Andreas Szakacs, en av grundarna av kryptovalutaplattformen OmegaPro, greps i Turkiet förra månaden för sin påstådda inblandning i ett Ponzi-program på 4 miljarder dollar, rapporterade turkiska medier på torsdagen.

Szakacs, en svensk medborgare som blev en turkisk medborgare och bytte namn till Emre Avci, förnekade anklagelserna och hävdade att han arbetade inom ekonomi och marknadsföring, enligt Istanbul-baserade dagstidningen BirGün.

Det turkiska gendarmeriet ska ha beslagtagit datorer och 32 kalla plånböcker under gripandet, även om Szakacs inte angav lösenord för enheterna. Myndigheterna kunde ändå spåra kryptovalutarörelser på totalt 160 miljoner dollar, enligt BirGün.

Omega Pro, som enligt uppgift kollapsade i slutet av 2022 ungefär samtidigt som FTX-kryptoimperiet, hade flaggats av tillsynsmyndigheter i flera länder, inklusive Frankrike, Belgien, Spanien och Argentina, för potentiellt bedrägeri. Plattformen riktade sig dock inte mot amerikanska kunder.

Gripandet av Szakacs följde på ett tips från en anonym uppgiftslämnare den 28 juni. En holländsk medborgare, Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh, lämnade ett uttalande till gendarmeriet och hävdade att han förlorade 7 miljoner dollar i ordningen och innehade fullmakt för 3,000 103 investerare som tillsammans förlorade XNUMX miljoner dollar.

I sitt uttalande förnekade Szakacs anklagelserna och hävdade att OmegaPro gick i konkurs i slutet av 2022, vilket ledde till enorma förluster för honom och hans team. Han hävdade att de ersatte många offer före konkursen.

Szakacs nämnde sitt arbete inom ekonomi och marknadsföring, tjänade 100,000 10 dollar i månaden, och uppgav att han fick turkiskt medborgarskap genom bygginvesteringar, även om han inte kunde komma ihåg platserna. Trots sitt försvar beordrade Beykoz Criminal Court of Peace att han skulle gripas den XNUMX juli, anklagad för bedrägeri, och utredningen pågår.

Andreas Szakacs, a co-founder of the controversial crypto company OmegaPro, was apprehended in Turkey in July.

He faces allegations of orchestrating a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors of $4 billion, according to Turkish media sources.

Szakacs, originally from Sweden and now known as Emre Avcı after obtaining Turkish citizenship, has denied the charges, asserting that his involvement was limited to finance and marketing.

The arrest followed an anonymous tip on June 28. After Turkish authorities conducted raids on two villas in Istanbul’s Beykoz district, Szakacs was detained on July 9 and formally arrested the following day on charges related to fraud involving information systems and financial institutions.

During the raids, authorities confiscated computers and 32 cold wallets, typically used for offline cryptocurrency storage. Although Szakacs did not disclose the passwords, investigators traced $160 million in cryptocurrency transactions.

OmegaPro’s downfall in late 2022, which coincided with the collapse of the FTX exchange, led to significant financial losses for investors worldwide.

Andreas Szakacs, one of the founders of the controversial cryptocurrency company OmegaPro, was arrested in Turkey in July for allegedly running a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors of $4 billion.

Circumstances of Arrest Originally from Sweden, Szakacs reportedly changed his name to Emre Avcı after becoming a Turkish citizen. He denied the accusations, claiming he only worked in finance and marketing. The arrest followed a tip-off 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 arrested on July 10 on charges of “fraud using information systems, banks or credit institutions as a means.”

Charges and Investigation During the raids, Turkish authorities seized computers and 32 cold wallets, which are typically used to store cryptocurrencies offline. Although Szakacs reportedly did not provide the passwords, investigators were able to track the movements of a total of $160 million in cryptocurrencies.

Witness Testimony A key witness in the case, Dutch national Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh, told investigators he lost $7 million in the fraud scheme. Mohaghegh also claimed to have represented, through power of attorney, 3,000 affected investors who lost $103 million in the alleged fraud.

Andreas Szakacs, a co-founder of OmegaPro, alleged to be a cryptocurrency-related scam, was arrested in Turkey in July, Turkish media reported.

Turkish authorities seized cold wallets and computers and tracked $160 million of cryptocurrency movements, the reports said.

Andreas Szakacs, a co-founder of OmegaPro, was arrested in Turkey in July for his involvement with the company alleged to have scammed investors of $4 billion in a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, Turkish media reported Thursday.

Szakacs, a Swede, changed his name to Emre Avci after becoming a citizen of the country, Turkey Today said. He rejected the accusations and said he worked in finance and marketing, according to BirGün, an Istanbul-based daily.

The gendarmerie seized computers and 32 cold wallets, according to behindmlm.com. While Szakacs did not provide passwords for the devices, Turkish authorities were able to track $160 million of cryptocurrency movements, BirGün said.

OmegaPro reportedly collapsed in late 2022, around the time the FTX crypto empire crashed. Prior to that, countries including France, Belgium Spain and Argentina sent out regulatory fraud warnings about the company, behindmlm.com reported at the time. OmegaPro did not target U.S. customers, it said.

The arrest followed a June 28 tip-off from an anonymous informant.

A Dutch national, Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh, gave a statement to the gendarmerie saying he'd lost $7 million in the scheme and claimed to have power of attorney from 3,000 of the affected investors who had collectively lost $103 million.