Andreas Szakacs, the co-founder of the now-defunct OmegaPro, was arrested in Turkey in July, facing allegations of defrauding investors through a $4 billion cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
According to an August 22 report from local Turkish media, Szakacs is accused of deceiving investors by promising substantial returns through OmegaPro’s purported “automated trading” algorithm, only to eventually lock their accounts after accumulating their funds.
A Swedish citizen, Szakacs changed his name to Emre Avci after moving to Turkey and has denied the allegations against him. His arrest followed a tip-off on June 28 from an anonymous informant, later supported by Dutch national Abdul Mohaghegh, who claims to represent 3,000 investors that lost a total of $103 million to OmegaPro.
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Dubai, OmegaPro was a cryptocurrency and forex investment company that offered investors returns of up to 300% on its suite of paid investment products. Users on the platform reported that initial small investments yielded quick returns, leading to demands for further investment before their accounts were ultimately locked.
The company began shutting down user accounts on November 7, 2022, and halted withdrawals by November 22, coinciding with the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. In the lead-up to its downfall, various jurisdictions, including France, Belgium, Spain, and Peru, issued regulatory fraud warnings about the platform, which primarily targeted users outside the United States.
Turkish police seized computers, mobile devices, and 32 crypto cold wallets during the arrest. Although Szakacs did not provide information for accessing these wallets, Turkish authorities tracked over $160 million in transactions, as reported by local news outlet Birgun.
Investigators believe OmegaPro’s funds may be closely linked to the infamous OneCoin crypto fraud scheme, which defrauded investors of $4 billion. Founded in 2014, OneCoin was exposed as a fraudulent scheme in 2015, swindling investors out of approximately $4 billion in assets over its two years of operation.
Several key figures involved in OneCoin have faced criminal prosecution in the U.S., including founder Ruja Ignatova’s boyfriend, Gilbert Armenta, lawyer Mark Scott, former head of legal Irina Dilkinska, co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood, and William Morro, who was linked to Armenta.
On June 26, the U.S. Department of State raised the reward for information leading to Ignatova’s arrest and conviction to $5 million, significantly increasing from the original $250,000.