Turkey seizes FTX assets in the country and plans criminal <div id="article-info-title" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; color: rgb(55, 55, 55); font-family: Arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <h1 itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; font-size: 38px; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"> Turkey seizes FTX assets in the country and plans criminal charges against SBF</h1> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="article-info-author" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; float: left;"> <div style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; display: inline-block; border-radius: 22px; overflow: hidden; width: 40px;"> <a href="https://www.kitco.com/reporters/ErnestHoffman/" style="color: rgb(0, 56, 113); text-decoration-line: none; padding: 23px 0px;"><img alt="Ernest Hoffman" height="42" src="https://www.kitco.com/ind/ErnestHoffman/images/Ernest-Kitco.JPG" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 10px; vertical-align: bottom; position: relative; z-index: -1;" /></a></div> <div class="author-description " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; display: inline-block;"> <a href="https://www.kitco.com/reporters/ErnestHoffman/" style="color: rgb(0, 56, 113); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 5px; padding: 23px 0px; display: inline-block;">Ernest Hoffman</a> <span class="date" content="2022-11-25T15:33+0000" datetime="2022-11-25T15:33+0000" itemprop="datePublished" style="font-size: 15px; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-weight: bold; display: block;">Friday November 25, 2022 10:33</span></div> </div> <div class="article-info" style="margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; float: right; display: inline-block;"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="article-social" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 15px 0px; border-top: thin solid rgb(224, 224, 224); border-bottom: thin solid rgb(224, 224, 224); height: 20px; color: rgb(55, 55, 55); font-family: Arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); line-height: 24px; font-weight: bold; display: inline-block; float: left;"> Kitco News</p> <div class="article-social-share" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: right;"> <p style="margin: 0px 5px 15px 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); line-height: 24px; float: left;"> Share this article:</p> </div> </div> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(55, 55, 55); font-family: Arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <article itemprop="articleBody" role="articles" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> <a href="https://www.kitco.com/services/e-mail-lists-signup.html" style="color: rgb(0, 56, 113); text-decoration-line: none;"><strong>Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!</strong></a></p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> <img src="https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-11-25/images/Shutterstock_2226341233.png" style="border: 0px; float: right;" /><strong>(<a href="https://www.kitco.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 56, 113); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal;" title="Kitco News">Kitco News</a>) - </strong>The Turkish government<a href="https://masak.hmb.gov.tr/duyuru/ftx-com-ticari-unvaniyla-faaliyet-gosteren-kripto-varlik-alim-satim-platformu-hk" style="color: rgb(0, 56, 113); text-decoration-line: none;"> announced</a> Thursday that it seized the assets in its country belonging to FTX, and the government will charge Sam Bankman-Fried and others with crimes including money laundering, market manipulation and fraud.</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> The country’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board, known in Turkey as MASAK, opened its investigation into FTX on Nov. 14 after the exchange collapsed and filed for bankruptcy.</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> An official announcement from MASAK laid out three key findings of the initial investigation.</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> -Customer funds were not properly safeguarded</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> -Customer funds were transferred to another person or persons or moved abroad through fraudulent means and transactions</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> -Supply and demand in the markets were manipulated in a fraudulent manner where nonexistent crypto assets were bought and sold on behalf of customers</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> “A strong suspicion of crime has been determined regarding these issues,” a MASAK official wrote. “An application has been made to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office with a request to initiate an investigation for various antecedent crimes as well as money laundering. As a result of this application, a judicial investigation was opened against the suspects and a confiscation measure was applied to the assets of the suspects.”</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> The agency added that the criminal investigation targets various people who worked for FTX.com and FTX.TR, and “especially the person named Samuel Benjamin BANKMAN-FRIED, who directly or indirectly controls the real and legal persons with whom FTX.com is related in our country.”</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> FTX.TR had over 110,000 users and processed an average of $500 between $600 million per month since its mobile application went live earlier in 2022. According to a<a href="https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-11-21/South-Korea-Japan-and-Singapore-lose-big-from-FTX-com-Binance-OKX-gain-Report.html" style="color: rgb(0, 56, 113); text-decoration-line: none;"> recent report</a>, Turkey ranked sixth in the world in terms of use of the FTX platform with 186,600 unique visitors per month.</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 24px;"> MASAK did not say whether any Turkish nationals have been charged with crimes, nor the value of the FTX assets that were seized. FTX.TR employed 27 people in the country.</p> </article> </div> <br />