On July 2, Turkish law enforcers arrested the founders of Turcoin cryptocurrency on charges of fraud and running a financial pyramid.
Turcoin was being promoted as Turkish “national” cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency was issued by Hipper company, founded by Sadun Kaya and Muhammed Satıroğlu in 2017.
It became clear, however, that the project was nothing but a scam based on a Ponzi scheme after both its founders had disappeared with the raised funds.
Back in 2017, the project started with a groundbreaking gala attended by a number of local celebrities. The event was followed by a giveaway, where some early investors were granted with luxury cars.
In January 2018, Turcoin was presented in Yekaterinburg as the “revolution in tourism”. VISTA Group and its CEO Maxim Puzankov in person was promoting the “revolutionary currency” among Russian travel agencies, claiming that it will bring “maximum profits in the short run”.
However, as in the case with other Ponzi schemes, the dividend payments ceased as soon as the asset price growth halted. The financial pyramid fell apart two weeks ago.
The company stopped paying bonuses to investors by the end of June. Investors were trying to approach the company’s headquarters in Istanbul, but to no avail. It was reported that Kaya fled the country with 100 million Turkish Liras collected from 10 000 defrauded investors.
Kaya and Satıroğlu were detained in June. Satıroğlu was later released on probation, but both were then arrested on July 2 and sent to prison ahead of trial.
Satıroğlu denies all the charges filed against him.
“I have not fled with the money. I will return all the money to the members if the authorities unblock my bank accounts,” Satıroğlu told Hürriyet in June.
https://en.bitnovosti.com/2018/07/05/founders-of-turcoin-national-cryptocurrency-were-put-under-arrest-and-await-trial/