The retrial of collapsed Turkish crypto exchange Thodex has reached the prosecution’s final submissions. Details published on September 30 link the alleged movement of customer assets to questions over balances shown on the platform.
Prosecutors in the Thodex retrial allege that defendants withdrew assets worth nearly TRY 357 million from the collapsed Turkish crypto exchange, with money taken through banking channels used to buy roughly 52.2 kilograms of physical gold. The details appear in journalist Barış Pehlivan’s September 30 report for Cumhuriyet, which describes a 17-page prosecution opinion.
Pehlivan says the opinion was submitted to Istanbul’s Anadolu 9th High Criminal Court last week. The newly published account concerns prosecutors’ assessment of past transactions, not a fresh withdrawal of customer funds on September 30.
Two routes for the alleged TRY 357m outflow
The report cites a 2021 balance sheet showing TRY 913,881,432 in assets recorded within the system. Prosecutors divide the portion allegedly withdrawn by the defendants into two channels:
| Withdrawal channel | Amount reported in the opinion |
|---|---|
| Banking channels | TRY 136,719,289 |
| Crypto assets | TRY 220,261,265 |
| Total | TRY 356,980,554 |
These are historical lira amounts tied to the 2021 accounts, rather than a valuation at today’s crypto or gold prices. The roughly 52.2 kilograms of gold should not be added as a separate loss on top of that total: the report describes the purchase as a use of funds withdrawn through banks.
The prosecution’s account also questions what stood behind the balances customers saw. Pehlivan quotes the opinion as saying:
“the values shown in their accounts did not actually have real backing”
The allegation concerns the gap between a balance displayed by a centralized exchange and the assets backing it. Prosecutors also argue that advertising, bonuses and prize draws were used to attract more customers.
Read BirGün’s September 30 post summarizing the reported prosecution figures on X (Turkish)
The post loads from X when you open it.
Prosecution requests are not a verdict; next hearing November 12
The retrial involves 21 defendants after an appeals court overturned the earlier judgment. Evrensel’s coverage of the same column recalls that founder Faruk Fatih Özer was found dead in prison on November 1, 2025. Prosecutors are seeking dismissal of the case against him because of his death.
They seek convictions for Güven and Serap Özer on charges of leading a criminal organization, aggravated fraud and laundering criminal proceeds. Acquittals are requested for 11 other defendants. The next hearing is scheduled for November 12.
No new verdict has been delivered: The reported findings and requested outcomes form the prosecution’s final submissions. They do not mean the court has accepted the requests, and a final judgment on November 12 is not guaranteed.
Cumhuriyet also published an approximately four-minute narrated version of Pehlivan’s column on September 30. The Turkish-language video below is a reading of the underlying report, not footage of a court hearing.
