The Turks are collapsing: their savings disappeared in one of the world's biggest scams

The arrest of senior executives at the brokerage firm 'Tera Yatırım' has revealed suspicions of an $18 billion Ponzi scheme that affected hundreds of thousands of investors and raises serious questions about financial oversight in Turkey. Among those arrested: chairperson Emre Tezmen, former OECD ambassador Kerem Alkin and his brother, President of Topkapı University. Assets have been frozen and an investigation into money laundering abroad has been opened.

Senior executives at the brokerage firm 'Tera Yatırım' have been arrested on suspicion of an $18 billion Ponzi scheme, one of the largest in the world. Among those arrested: chairperson Emre Tezmen, Kerem Alkin, who served as Turkey's ambassador to the OECD and a senior figure at Halkbank and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, and his brother Emre Alkin, an economist and president of Topkapı University. Authorities have frozen assets of senior officials at related financial companies and restricted the activities of their families. An investigation has been opened into the smuggling of millions of dollars to Switzerland and cryptocurrencies abroad since 2024. According to the suspicion, the funds purchased illiquid stocks to inflate their value and attracted new investors with fictitious returns. Ramazan Başak, former deputy head of the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, claims he repeatedly warned and was ignored, and was even arrested after posting about a 10,128% return. According to him, a fraud of this magnitude requires political and bureaucratic support from the top.