A murdered Turkish-Cypriot businessman who oversaw a vast alleged illegal gambling network is believed to have moved some of his money using the Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance, a collaborative investigation between Times of Malta and Amphora Media found.
Halil Falyalı, once wanted in the US for allegedly laundering drug money, was assassinated in Northern Cyprus three years ago.
A 2022 Turkish financial crimes investigators’ report listed around 100 cryptocurrency wallets they said were used by the network to transfer the “revenues of crime”.
The report identified Binance TR, the Turkish branch of Binance, as one of the three crypto asset service providers used by the network.
Using these providers, individuals within the network collected transfers from others and then forwarded them to accounts held by crypto asset service providers.
Investigators noted that over $29 million passed through Falyalı’s Binance Global accounts.
One wallet seen as central to the cryptocurrency transfers appeared to originate in Malta.
The Turkish financial crimes report suggests that the account was opened with the Malta-based Binance Global on November 26, 2020, when Binance was not licensed to operate as a financial service provider in Malta.
Binance told Turkish investigators that the cryptocurrency wallet belonged to Halil Cahit/Djahit, a Cypriot citizen.
Investigators were able to confirm that Djahit is an alias of Halil Falyalı. Halil Djahit was Falyalı’s name on his Greek Cypriot ID.
Falyalı submitted a copy of his Cypriot passport and a selfie to open his account.
In response to reporters' questions about accounts linked to Falyali, a representative of Binance said “Binance aims to set a high standard for compliance across the industry, proactively detecting and preventing illicit activity both on and off our platform".
“We work closely with law enforcement and industry partners to enhance security and regulatory compliance. This includes advanced AI-driven identity verification, ensuring a robust and effective Know Your Customer (KYC) process.”
Binance moved to Malta in 2018
Binance moved to Malta in 2018, taking advantage of the welcoming environment for cryptocurrency companies at the time as part of ex-prime minister Joseph Muscat’s vision to create a “Blockchain Island”.
That same year, the government introduced legislation which provided a grace period to cryptocurrency operators of 12 months to apply for an appropriate licence.
Binance never acquired the licence to operate in financial services, and in February 2020, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) issued a statement that “Binance is not authorised by the MFSA to operate in the cryptocurrency sphere”.
In 2023, Binance’s co-founder and, at the time, majority owner Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme in the US. In his plea, Zhao admitted to telling employees that it was “better to ask for forgiveness than permission”.
Sweeping indictments
Turkish prosecutors indicted more than 240 people last December, including Falyalı’s widow, on illegal gambling and money laundering charges.
The posthumous indictment accused Falyalı of “establishing an organisation with the aim of committing crime”.
After Falyalı’s death, investigators noted that his widow made a large withdrawal from his Binance account.
In her testimony upon indictment, Özge Taşker Falyalı confirmed that she held a wallet at Binance Global under her maiden name and that her husband had declared crypto assets abroad worth €30 million, $10 million and £10 million in various cryptocurrencies.
She denied the charges against her.
Investigators also believe the detected transactions are only a fraction of the money movements within this network.
Cemil Önal, Falyalı’s longtime head of finance who is facing charges linked to illegal gambling and allegations of complicity in Falyalı’s murder, says that the network allegedly earned €75 million a month, while authorities have seized around €40 million in assets.
In over 20 hours of taped interview with OCCRP, Önal claims that Falyalı’s network also used so-called cold wallets, devices for storing cryptocurrency keys offline, without connecting them to the internet.
Recipients of betting revenues would transfer their cryptocurrency assets into these wallets. These devices are then physically transported, and the money is cashed.
Times of Malta collaborated with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Amphora Media (Malta), Follow the Money (Netherlands), Hetq (Armenia), Investigative Reporting Lab Macedonia, Belarusian Investigative Center and Shteg.org (Albania) on the research for this publication.