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A suitcase-and-courier network using pre-selected ₺5 banknotes as passwords, ₺200 billion ($4.374B) in suspicious transactions, three bank managers, eight police officers, four lawyers, and well-known TV commentator Rasim Ozan Kutahyali.
The details emerging from one of Türkiye's largest illegal betting and money-laundering operations reveal a financial crime infrastructure spanning 21 provinces, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Montenegro, and Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.
Adana Cyber Crimes Unit officers raided the home of Serdal Tanak in May 2024 on a qualified fraud investigation, seizing multiple digital materials and mobile phones.
When investigators cracked the password on Tanak's phone, they found communications that revealed an international illegal betting network.
With the prosecutor's authorization, evidence collection began. Tanak, who was arrested and remanded, remained in custody throughout the subsequent investigation.
Physical surveillance and technical monitoring over approximately two years revealed the network's cash-conversion method.
Couriers were given ₺5 banknotes with pre-selected serial numbers.
Photographs of the identical banknote were sent in advance to gold dealers and foreign exchange bureaus in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar and in Adana. When a courier arrived and presented the matching banknote, the exchange or gold shop managers, who had already received laundered funds into their own accounts, would hand over the equivalent in cash, currency, or gold in suitcases.
The funds were then delivered directly to the organization's leader.
Exchange bureaus and gold dealers received 10% commission on each transaction. Those implicated had their businesses placed under court-appointed trusteeship.
Financial analysis by MASAK, Türkiye's Financial Crimes Investigation Board, and prosecutors identified approximately ₺200 billion in suspicious transactions and laundering activity.
The network ran the money through electronic payment institutions, bank accounts, virtual POS systems, foreign exchange bureaus, gold dealers, shell companies, and cryptocurrency asset systems.
Investigators determined the organization had built proprietary software infrastructure and panel systems to provide a financial backbone for multiple illegal betting sites.
The alleged ringleader, Selahattin Akin Uzun, a Turkish Cypriot citizen, is said to have managed the network from abroad, using connections in Montenegro and the TRNC as an operations hub.
Organization members referred to him as "Akin abi."
He is alleged to have held a 70% share of profits and monitored financial movements through daily and weekly reports. Digital evidence linked Uzun to the late Halil Falyali, killed in 2022, and his associates.
Uzun was arrested in Istanbul while attending a relative's wedding.
Arrest warrants were issued for 198 suspects, and simultaneous operations across 21 provinces on May 14 resulted in 161 arrests. Among those detained were three bank managers, eight police officers, four lawyers, Rasim Ozan Kutahyali, and Uzun.
Of the 154 suspects sent to court on May 17, 135 were remanded in custody, including Uzun, Kutahyali, and Tanak, while 19 were released under judicial supervision. Seven were released on the prosecutor's orders.
Investigators also seized 221 properties, 120 vehicles, and three boats belonging to suspects and their companies.
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