Turkey to Confiscate ‘Suspicious’ Assets Related to FTX: Report

The Financial Crimes Investigation Board of Turkey (MASAK) seeks to seize “suspicious” assets linked to the battered cryptocurrency exchange FTX. 

The authorities also plan to open an investigation against the trading venue’s former CEO – Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

Going After SBF

The Turkish agency sought a greenglight from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to launch a thorough inspection on FTX and its dubious activities over the years. The entity vowed to confiscate “suspicious” assets related to the platform should the regulators give their approval. 

MASAK is also willing to examine the actions of Bankman-Fried and determine his role in the exchange’s collapse. 

Several reports indicated that the 30-year-old American had spent millions of dollars to pay off media outlets to present him as a trustworthy entrepreneur to the broad public. Twitter’s new CEO – Elon Musk – believes in those assumptions and said FTX could still be a functional venue if SBF were as good at running it as he was at bribing broadcast entities.

Other sources revealed that Bankman-Fried and other executives of the collapsed platform misused customers’ funds over the years and purchased multi-million beachfront houses in the Bahamas.

MASAK has already opened an investigation against the Turkish subsidiary of the exchange – FTX Turkey – and seized digital currencies related to its bosses.

“As a result of our aforementioned application, a judicial investigation was opened against the suspects, and a confiscation measure was applied to the assets of the suspects,” a previous notice reads.

The Recent Crypto Seizure in Turkey

The Turkish police arrested 46 individuals in October who allegedly ran an illegal betting organization and used cryptocurrencies to launder profits. 

The investigation assumed that the entity processed around $135 million worth of digital assets throughout its existence.

Süleyman Soylu – Turkey’s Minister of Interior – stated law enforcement agents confiscated approximately a third of that amount, saying this is “just the beginning:”

“This operation came out of Turkish Cyprus and is linked to the murder of Halil Falyali. A transfer of approximately TL 2.5 billion of money occurred. Approximately $40 million of money has been confiscated at the moment.”

The authorities presented the documents of the seizure to the governments of multiple European nations so they could be aware of the problem and prevent such negative events on the Old Continent.