In recent months, Turkey has found itself at the center of a storm of financial scandals and sweeping law enforcement crackdowns, raising urgent questions about the country’s role as both a haven for international fraudsters and a battleground for anti-corruption efforts. From the exposure of a $100 billion global Ponzi scheme to the detention of high-profile business magnates and the dismantling of sprawling domestic fraud networks, the country’s financial and regulatory landscape is under intense scrutiny—both at home and abroad.
The most explosive revelation came with the unsealing of a massive U.S. class-action lawsuit in Miami federal court, first filed in August 2024 and amended in February 2025. According to Nordic Monitor, the lawsuit shines a harsh light on Turkey’s emergence as a safe haven for global financial criminals, specifically those behind the OmegaPro crypto Ponzi scheme. The complaint details how OmegaPro and its successor, Go Global, lured nearly three million investors from every corner of the globe—including Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas—with promises of “guaranteed” returns of up to 300 percent. However, instead of legitimate investments, the money was funneled through a complex web of shell companies in Dubai, Malta, Panama, and, crucially, Turkey.
Regulators in France and Spain were among the first to sound the alarm, issuing cease-and-desist orders and formal fraud alerts against OmegaPro on March 17, 2022, as reported by Nordic Monitor. Yet, despite mounting complaints from European victims, Turkish authorities did not intervene until mid-2024. This delay allowed OmegaPro to continue recruiting thousands of new investors—including Turkish citizens—and to launder millions through Istanbul’s financial system. The question lingers: Why did Turkish regulators wait over two years to act, even as the evidence mounted and international pressure grew?
The answer may lie in the details of the Turkish investigation, which exploded into public view in the summer of 2024. Istanbul’s gendarmerie and prosecutors determined that OmegaPro was not registered with Turkey’s Capital Markets Board or any licensed crypto exchange. The breakthrough came on July 9, 2024, when Turkish authorities raided luxury villas in the affluent Acarkent compound in Beykoz, Istanbul, arresting OmegaPro’s Swedish-Turkish co-founder, Andreas Attila Szakacs. Szakacs, who had acquired Turkish citizenship under the name “Emre Avcı,” was living in a four-story villa outfitted with security cameras, whiteboards covered in crypto notes, and computers used to manage the company’s servers. Investigators seized 32 cold wallets, password devices, and corporate files documenting hundreds of millions of dollars in transfers. A preliminary review linked Szakacs to $160 million in crypto flows in just one month. He denied the fraud allegations, insisting, “OmegaPro collapsed in 2022 due to bankruptcy and I myself was the biggest loser.”
The net widened further on September 3, 2024, when Turkish gendarmes arrested Robert Velghe, OmegaPro’s Dutch managing director, in Istanbul. According to Nordic Monitor, Velghe had entered Turkey on August 26, 2024, reportedly to find ways to assist Szakacs, and had taken elaborate steps to avoid detection, including checking into three separate hotels and even visiting Szakacs in Maltepe Prison. When apprehended, Velghe attempted to erase his phone, but authorities recovered evidence linking him to OmegaPro’s leadership well past 2019. He was accused of overseeing at least $4 billion in fraudulent transfers and was subsequently jailed in Istanbul.
For Turkish victims, the scam followed a familiar pattern. Many started by depositing small amounts—often around $10,000—into the Omega Invest mobile app, a spin-off platform linked to OmegaPro. After seeing their balances triple and successfully withdrawing early profits, they were convinced to invest larger sums. But when their balances soared to $40,000 or more, withdrawals were suddenly blocked and all funds vanished. “Investment experts” pressured them to send more money to shell companies, only for their accounts to be wiped clean. Through the Turkish consumer complaint site Şikayet Var, authorities identified at least 16 Istanbul-based victims who experienced this cycle of hope and betrayal.
Adding yet another twist, Dutch-Afghan doctor Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh surfaced as a complainant, claiming to represent 3,000 victims with $103 million in losses. However, some Dutch investors allege Mohaghegh was himself a partner in the scam, organizing Bosporus boat tours in Istanbul to lure Dutch investors and possibly tipping off authorities about Szakacs’s whereabouts. His presence in Turkey during the arrests has fueled speculation that the whistleblowing may have been part of an internal feud among the fraudsters.
The OmegaPro saga is just the latest in a series of scandals tying Turkey to global financial crime. From the infamous OneCoin network to the collapse of the domestic Thodex exchange and the Reza Zarrab gold-for-oil laundering affair, Turkey’s regulatory gaps, weak financial oversight, and controversial citizenship-by-investment programs have made it an attractive destination for those seeking to evade justice. As Nordic Monitor notes, Szakacs’s ability to operate freely for years, moving vast sums through Turkish institutions without regulatory alarms, suggests he may have enjoyed political protection—possibly from influential groups with ties to the government.
While the world watched the fallout from OmegaPro, Turkish authorities launched another high-profile operation on September 11, 2025. According to Reuters, prosecutors ordered the detention of prominent businessman Turgay Ciner and the seizure of several companies from his mining-to-energy conglomerate, Ciner Group. The investigation centers on Can Holding, which acquired major television channels Haberturk, Show TV, and Bloomberg HT from Ciner Group late last year. Prosecutors allege the transactions involved money laundering, tax evasion, and organized crime. An arrest warrant was issued for Ciner on September 28, 2025, and state trustees were appointed to manage Park Holding and affiliated companies, including AFC Import Export Tourism, Zeyfa Import Export, and Silopi Electric Production Inc. Detention warrants were also issued for ten executives linked to the group. Attempts to reach Ciner for comment were unsuccessful.
As if these headline-grabbing cases weren’t enough, Turkish authorities struck again on September 29, 2025, dismantling a sophisticated fraud network that had defrauded 537 people of 984 million Turkish lira (about $23.6 million). Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the arrests of 41 suspects after coordinated raids across 18 provinces, including Istanbul, Tekirdag, and Izmir. Authorities discovered the network had processed a staggering 5 billion lira (roughly $120 million) through their bank accounts, using shell companies that promised high returns. “The network that defrauded 537 of our citizens of 984 million has been dismantled,” Yerlikaya declared on social media, praising law enforcement for their efforts and vowing, “There is no passage for fraudsters who target our people’s hard-earned money. We continue our fight without interruption.”
These cases, taken together, paint a complex and often troubling picture. On one hand, Turkish law enforcement has shown it can act decisively, arresting fraudsters and seizing assets on a massive scale. On the other, the delays, regulatory gaps, and suspicions of political interference suggest that the country’s fight against financial crime is far from over. For millions of victims worldwide, the hope is that Turkey’s recent actions mark a turning point—one that will see justice served and stolen billions recovered. But with the judiciary’s vulnerability to corruption and political influence, as well as the country’s checkered past in similar cases, the road ahead remains uncertain.
For now, Turkey stands at a crossroads: Will it cement its reputation as a global hub for financial fraud, or will these latest crackdowns signal a genuine commitment to reform and accountability?