Falyali’s Widow Indicted in Turkish Money Laundering Probe

Ozge Tasker Falyali was, according to the indictment, part of a “criminal organisation founded and led by Halil Falyalı”, which the chief public prosecutor’s office in Turkey’s capital city Ankara now accuses of having violated betting laws and of having laundered “assets originating from crime”.

The indictment reads that the late Halil Falyalı had “sent the assets obtained from illegal gambling to bank accounts belonging to members of the organisation”, with the money converted to cryptocurrency and then being transferred back to him and to other members of the organisation. 

Turkey’s financial crimes investigation board claimed in a report that a total of 218 people had deposited over 2.5 billion TL (€70.5 million) into various bank accounts over a total of 118,148 transactions, with almost all of that money then disappearing into cryptocurrency wallets.

The board added that the bank accounts used for the transfers saw money being deposited and withdrawn “at very short intervals”, and that bank accounts were often used for “short periods of time” before being closed.

Additionally, it claimed that transactions were being carried out at a frequency which “could not have been done by humans”, and thus concluded that some form of software was being used to launder the money.

The indictment also states that Halil Falyalı opened an account on a cryptocurrency exchange site base in Malta on November 26, 2020 and had an account balance of 642.3 bitcoins – worth €9.2m at the time – and that his widow had withdrawn 40 bitcoins from the account after he died.

40 bitcoins would have been worth €1.6m on February 9, 2022, the day after Falyali was killed.

The authorities said they had initially attended to indict Halil Falyalı himself, but noted that as he is dead, they are unable to.

They cited the Turkish penal code, which reads that “in the event of the death of a defendant, the case against them is to be dropped.

“However, a decision may be made in the case regarding his goods and material interests which are subject to potential confiscation.”

As such, evidence against Falyali which emerged during the investigation may lead to his assets being seized by the Turkish authorities.

The Ankara chief public prosecutor’s office requested that the 250 who have been indicted be sentenced to 51 years and nine months in prison, while a total of 19 companies belonging to the defendants are to be held financially responsible for the crimes their owners were party to.

Halil Falyalı was killed alongside his chauffeur Murat Demirtas in the early hours of February 8, 2022, when his car was ambushed by men armed with automatic rifles on the road between Kyrenia and Ayios Epiktitos, where he lived.

He was pronounced dead at the Near East University hospital on the outskirts of Nicosia, with the autopsy revealing he had been struck by a total of 16 bullets. Demirtas had been struck by six bullets.

His wife and children were following his car in a second vehicle and were not harmed.

He was the owner of the Les Ambassadeurs hotel and casino in Kyrenia and had long been accused of links to the underworld.

Turkish mafia boss Sedat Peker had claimed that a drugs ring involving former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s son Erkam Yildirim was laundering money via Falyali.

Falyali was also arrested in October 2021, having been accused of assaulting an employee who he accused of stealing from his casino, and threatening the employee with his life.

However, the complainant later withdrew his accusations and Falyali was released before the complainant himself was sentenced to two years in prison the following year.

Elsewhere, a warrant for his arrest had been issued in the United States in 2016 on money laundering and drug charges.

Source: Cyprus Mail/TAK