PANews reported on August 22 that OmegaPro co-founder Andreas Szakacs was arrested in Turkey in July for his alleged involvement in the company's cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $4 billion. Szakacs changed his name to Emre Avci after becoming a Swedish citizen. The report said he denied the allegations and said he worked in finance and marketing. Local media said that the gendarmerie seized his computers and 32 cold wallets, and although Szakacs did not provide the passwords for these devices, Turkish authorities were able to track the flow of $160 million worth of cryptocurrency.
OmegaPro reportedly collapsed in late 2022, around the same time as FTX’s collapse. Prior to that, countries including France, Belgium, Spain, and Argentina had issued regulatory fraud warnings against the company. The company said OmegaPro did not target U.S. customers. The arrest was made based on a tip from an anonymous tipster on June 28.