In a dramatic development reported Thursday, Andreas Szakacs, a principal figure behind OmegaPro, was apprehended in Turkey in July, amidst accusations of orchestrating a colossal $4 billion Ponzi scheme involving cryptocurrency. According to Turkish sources, Szakacs, originally a Swede, adopted the name Emre Avci upon acquiring Turkish citizenship.

Szakacs, who has vehemently denied the charges, maintains that his role was confined to finance and marketing. Turkish daily BirGün relayed that Szakacs’s claim of innocence contrasts sharply with the allegations against him.

The Turkish gendarmerie has reportedly seized a substantial cache of evidence, including computers and 32 cold storage wallets. While Szakacs declined to divulge passwords, authorities managed to trace $160 million in cryptocurrency transactions, as detailed by BirGün.

OmegaPro, the company in question, purportedly collapsed in late 2022, coinciding with the downfall of the FTX crypto empire. Prior to its downfall, several nations—such as France, Belgium, Spain, and Argentina—issued warnings about the company’s fraudulent activities, though it did not extend its services to U.S. clients.

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The arrest followed a tip-off from an anonymous informant received on June 28. Abdul Ghaffar Mohaghegh, a Dutch national, reported to the authorities that he had lost $7 million in the scheme and claimed to represent 3,000 investors who had collectively suffered a loss of $103 million.

According to Turkey Today, Szakacs was taken into custody on July 9 after raids at two villas in Beykoz, Istanbul. BirGün specified that the formal arrest for “fraud using information systems, banks, or credit institutions as a tool” was executed on July 10.