A court in İstanbul on Monday sentenced a former bank manager to 102 years in prison over a secret investment scheme that prosecutors say defrauded 27 people, including several star footballers.
The İstanbul 41st High Criminal Court also ordered Seçil Erzan, the former manager of a branch of Turkish lender Denizbank, to pay a 753,880 lira fine and ruled that she will remain in jail pending appeal.
Erzan was convicted of aggravated fraud, forgery of private documents and breach of trust for running what prosecutors described as a high return “secret fund” while she worked as a branch manager for Denizbank, a private lender in Turkey.
Prosecutors said Erzan promised investors high monthly returns and told them that prominent figures, including Fatih Terim, the former coach of Turkey’s national football team, were part of the fund. People who put money into the scheme also included former Turkey and Galatasaray midfielder Arda Turan, Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, former national team playmaker Emre Belözoğlu and former Galatasaray captain Selçuk İnan.
The court said Erzan defrauded 27 complainants and used forged documents to make it appear that their money was put in the bank’s special products, although no such fund exists in bank records. The case has been known in Turkey as the “high return secret fund” or the “Fatih Terim fund” because of the coach’s name in witness statements.
In the same ruling, the court acquitted former Denizbank chief executive Hakan Ateş and former deputy general manager Mehmet Aydoğdu, who had been charged in a separate indictment over the same scheme. Several other defendants received shorter prison sentences and fines for their role in collecting money from investors.
At an earlier hearing the prosecutor had requested between 50 and 342 years in prison for Erzan on charges of fraud against some complainants and for breach of trust and document forgery in relation to Terim.
Erzan told the court she denied all charges and said she did not set up any system to steal money. In her final statement she claimed a man she described as a nephew of Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek threatened her and forced her to sign documents and imitate other people’s signatures. She also asked the court to release her to house arrest, saying she would not flee.
Denizbank has said in public statements that the case involved a rogue branch manager acting outside its systems and that internal audits and reports sent to prosecutors began as soon as the scheme came to light in April 2023. The court’s acquittal of the former chief executive and other senior managers is likely to renew debate in Turkey over whether responsibility for the scheme stopped at the branch level and if higher ranking officials managed to evade justice.
Terim, a former coach of the Turkey national team and Galatasaray and now coach of Saudi club Al Shabab, has taken part in the case as a complainant. He has said through his lawyers that he never knowingly joined an off-the-books fund, that his own accounts were abused and that he is also a victim.
Defense lawyers are expected to appeal the verdict to a higher court.