The founding father of funds platform Papara has been arrested in Turkey over unlawful playing allegations.
Turkish prosecutors Tuesday arrested 13 suspects, together with the founder and chairman of on-line fee platform Papara, in a sweeping investigation into unlawful playing operations.
Papara founder Ahmed Faruk Karslı was amongst these detained in raids throughout Istanbul that started at round 5am native time. The tycoon faces fees of creating and being a member of a legal organisation and laundering the proceeds of crime. Authorities seized belongings value TL5 billion ($128.4 million).
Turkey’s inside minister, Ali Yerlikaya, stated the Monetary Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) had decided that criminals had been utilizing Istanbul-headquartered Papara accounts to switch illicit funds and finance unlawful betting.
The swoop comes two months after PayFix’s chairman and others had been detained on fees of cash laundering and working an unauthorised betting community. TCMB, Turkey’s Central Financial institution, has halted the operations of PayFix, Aypara and Ininal as a part of the unlawful betting probe.
İstanbul’da “Yasa Dışı Bahis” suçuna yönelik Papara A.Ş.’ye bugün (27 Mayıs) düzenlediğimiz eş zamanlı operasyonlarda; örgüt elebaşının da içerisinde bulunduğu 13 şüpheli yakalandı.
İstanbul Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığı ile Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü Siber Suçlarla Mücadele Daire… pic.twitter.com/beg8cBIo8P
— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) Might 27, 2025
Unlawful playing fees relate to 26,000+ Papara accounts
The Papara investigation discovered people positioned unlawful bets by way of accounts opened within the names of 26,012 folks, conducting transactions totalling TL12.9 billion. The cash collected in these accounts was transferred to 274 totally different accounts. It was decided the funds had been transferred from these accounts to crypto pockets accounts belonging to 5 people related to 4 totally different unlawful betting websites.
The authorities acted following an investigation performed by the Istanbul Provincial Police Division’s Cyber Crimes Combating Department Directorate, below the coordination of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Workplace and the Normal Directorate of Safety’s Cyber Crime Combating Division.
Minister Yerlikaya stated: “I congratulate our governor of Istanbul, our Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Workplace who coordinated the operations, our Istanbul Provincial Police Chief who carried out the operations, our heroic law enforcement officials and our MASAK staff.
“Unlawful betting is against the law that threatens the way forward for not solely people but additionally society.
“We proceed our combat in opposition to unlawful betting and cyber fraud with willpower for the protection of our residents.”
Papara valued at $2bn+
In keeping with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Workplace, authorities seized belongings together with eight corporations led by PPR Holding Inc, yachts, 5 boats, three protected deposit bins, 74 automobiles and 7 residences and villas.
Papara, based in 2015, supplies on-line cash transfers, foreign-exchange transactions and bill-payment companies. The corporate achieved a valuation of over $1 billion, changing into the primary Turkish fintech to take action, and is now value an estimated $2 billion.
In keeping with Papara’s web site, it has greater than 23 million private customers and companies multiple million companies. Its customers make greater than 31 million transactions every month. Papara presents pay as you go card, home and worldwide cash transfers, in-app funds, insurance coverage, funding services.
