Uruguay to extradite brother of Turkish Ponzi scheme creator

Duvar English

Uruguay will extradite the elder brother of Mehmet Aydın, the founder of Ponzi scheme Farm Bank (Çiftlik Bank in Turkish), to Turkey, as he is among 18 defendants charged in the case, Demirören news agency reported on Nov. 1.

Mehmet Aydın's brother Fatih Aydın was being held arrested in Uruguay since July, upon Turkey's demand. Fatih Aydın is among the executives of the fraudulent game Farm Bank which has swindled money from thousands of people.

Authorities in Uruguay responded to the extradition demand of the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for the first time and accepted it, Demirören news agency said.

Accordingly, Turkish authorities launched the necessary procedures to bring Fatih Aydın back to Turkey. After his entry into the country, the defendant will stay in detention at the Istanbul police organized crime bureau for four days.

Prosecutors are seeking up to 77,868 years in jail for 18 defendants in the case, with charges including “establishing an organization to commit a crime,” “fraud with the information systems of bank or credit institutions being used as a tool” and “swindling cooperative managers through tradespeople and company executives.”

Mehmet Aydın founded Farm Bank in 2016 with a principal of 10,000 Turkish Liras. The online platform promised users income from real world crops and livestock if they purchased these items online. The scheme grew quickly - by the time Aydın fled Turkey in 2018, he had raised 500 million liras in profit from 132,000 users.

In July of this year, Aydın was extradited to Turkey and put under custody at the Istanbul Airport. He was taken directly to the Anadolu Adalet Sarayı (Anatolian Palace of Justice), where he made a statement to the organized crime bureau and was arraigned.