Faruk Fatih Ozer, a Turkish businessman wanted by the Turkish authorities over charges of staging a cryptocurrency scam, was arrested in Albania and is awaiting extradition to Turkey, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced Tuesday. 

Ozer, the 28-year-old CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, is accused of one of the largest financial hoaxes in Turkey’s current economic history. Ozer, for whom Turkey placed an Interpol “red notice” in April 2021, is charged with running off with $2 billion in investors’ assets, though he has repeatedly denied the accusations via social media. 

The Interior Ministry announced today that  Albanian Interior Minister Bledar Cuci personally called his Turkish counterpart Suleyman Soylu this morning to tell him of the arrest following an operation called “Brain.” Security sources told Al-Monitor that two Albanian citizens who aided the Turkish fugitive were also detained. 

The arrest was confirmed by Kreshnik Ajazi, the public prosecutor in the city of Elbasan, where Ozer was brought after being caught in the coastal town of Vlora. Ozer will first have a hearing in Albania and the extradition process will start after that, Ajazi told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.