Police start questioning Çiftlik Bank founder

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ISTANBUL

On July 5, Istanbul police began questioning the runaway creator of an alleged online Ponzi scheme who was brought back to Turkey over the weekend.

Interviews with Mehmet Aydın were carried out by a special Istanbul police team equipped with 60 pages of prepared questions.

Aydın, who visited the Turkish consulate in Sao Paulo, was arrested at Istanbul airport on July 3 as part of an ongoing investigation by Istanbul prosecutors after the arrival of a Turkish Airlines plane at 10:10 p.m.

Aydın, nicknamed “Tosuncuk”, who was also wanted with a Red Notice by Interpol at Turkey’s request, is charged with several crimes, including “establishment of a criminal organization” and “fraud” and faces up to 75 260 years in prison.

After four days of questioning, he will be brought before the Anatolian court in Istanbul.

Aydın faces charges in the courts of Istanbul and Bursa for committing fraud using information systems, banks or credit institutions.

Aydın, who was 26 at the time, created an online program in 2016 inspired by a social media game, FarmVille, and raised over 1.1 billion Turkish liras (approximately $ 131 million) to more than 132,000 people and fled the country in 2018.

Victims of the game were made to invest their money in virtual animals and crops, as Aydın promised high rates of return by directing the money collected into real agricultural investment.

According to a report by the Capital Markets Board (SPK), Çiftlik Bank made payments to some 63,000 people amounting to Lit 511 million, while the remaining amount was transferred to the bank accounts that Aydın and his wife held in northern Cyprus.

When he fled the country in 2018, Turkey issued a Red Notice for Aydın, who was also added to Interpol’s Most Wanted List in 2019.

The Turkish Ministry of Justice has contacted all countries where Aydın has allegedly been seen, within the framework of judicial cooperation, including Uruguay, Brazil, Panama, Honduras, Canada and Ukraine.

After being informed that Aydın would have been seen in Brazil, his extradition was requested in Brazil in June 2018. The request was renewed in February.

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