The Istanbul Prosecutor's Office has issued an arrest warrant for Burak Bashel, a North Cyprus entrepreneur, on suspicion of creating a financial and infrastructure network that supports illegal iGaming operators, according to Sabah.
Reports indicate that the network's monthly turnover reached $3 billion. Investigators seized an archive of 80 TB containing banking and personal data of 13.8 million Turkish players who placed bets with illegal operators from servers located at the Bulgarian data center Telepoint.
The investigation reveals that the network is linked to jurisdictions in Malta, Bulgaria, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), and Dubai. Sabah reports that Bashel's infrastructure catered to 80% of the world's illegal online betting resources targeting Turkey, including 49 major sites previously shut down in the country.
Additionally, the publication connects Bashel's financial network, which flows through the Maltese payment service Paymix, to Halil Falialı, a figure involved in illegal betting investigations who was murdered in 2022.