The founder of a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange platform has been apprehended in Albania after fleeing after stealing $2 billion from clients. Faruk Faith Ozer, the founder of Thodex, is currently facing extradition to Turkey, where he could face a 40,564-year prison sentence.

Ozer fled Turkey in April 2021, having stolen approximately $2 billion from 400,000 clients. He claimed at first that Thodex had to halt trading due to cyberattacks. However, clients lost access to their accounts and, as a result, their crypto funds within a week as the 28-year-old founder fled the country.

Interpol had initiated the extradition process, according to the Turkish Interior Ministry. According to local media, Ozer and a few other Thodex employees are facing prison sentences of more than 40,000 years. In the lawsuit, twenty-one defendants are on trial. Albanian police said in a statement on Tuesday that the 28-year-old Ozer was apprehended at a hotel in Himara, a small town in southern Albania.

According to police, two people suspected of assisting him were also arrested, and computers, mobile phones, and bank cards were seized. Thodex, based in Istanbul, was founded in 2017 and quickly gained a large customer base in Turkey, owing to the falling value of the Turkish lira, which prompted many citizens to consider crypto as a way to protect their assets.