On May 14, Turkey witnessed a coordinated operation led by the Adana prosecutor's office, resulting in simultaneous raids across 21 provinces. This crackdown targets illegal betting, fraud, bribery, and money laundering activities amounting to a staggering $4.2 billion.
On May 18, a court ordered the arrest of journalist Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı and the alleged mastermind of the scheme, Selahattin Akın Uzun, on charges of membership in a criminal organization, as reported by the Turkish publication Takvim.
A total of 161 individuals were detained under 198 warrants, including three bank executives, eight police officers, and four lawyers.
As part of the investigation, 8,500 illegal iGaming resources have been blocked. Reports from MASAK indicate that revenues from illegal online betting and user data theft were funneled through specially created wallet sites such as megapanelim, flexcuzdan, flexkartim, flexhavale, flexpep, and flexcmt.
The funds were then laundered through shell companies like Açılım Bilgi Teknolojileri, Atlantik Global, Efixsoft Bilgi Teknolojileri, Kartalsoft, Avensis, and Semerkand, disguised as sales of top-up codes (e-pin) and in-game currency. According to the investigation, the final stage of the money laundering process involved payment services, banks, exchange offices, jewelry companies, and crypto services.
Data from MASAK reveals that between 2021 and 2024, Kütahyalı's accounts received $770,000 through six payment services allegedly involved in the scheme, including Sipay, Elekse, Fzypay, and Paladyum.