A major financial crime investigation in Turkey has placed payment company Papel Elektronik Para ve Ödeme Hizmetleri AŞ at the center of allegations involving illegal betting proceeds, suspicious transfers and cryptocurrency transactions.
According to Turkish prosecutors’ investigation and findings cited in the indictment and MASAK reports, the financial activity examined in the Papel case reached approximately 1.5 billion Turkish lira. Authorities are investigating whether the payment infrastructure was used to collect, move and potentially launder proceeds linked to illegal betting and other unlawful activities.
The investigation has named several prominent figures, including Seyhan İbrahim Yıldırım, the founder and registered 100 percent shareholder of Papel, as well as Ferit Samuray and Asil Ersoydan, two men Turkish authorities have identified as key figures in the alleged network.
The case has also resulted in arrests involving former Papel executives, including Dinçer Çetintaş, a former executive of the Turkish Basketball Federation, Necmi Özben, Ahmet Avar, and Ahmet Serkan Öksüz.
1.5 Billion Lira Financial Trail
The scale of the financial activity is one of the most significant elements of the case.
A MASAK report cited in the investigation put the approximate transaction volume connected to Papel and its sub-merchants at 1.5 billion TL (Turkish lira). Investigators allegedly found patterns involving illegal betting transfers, improper use of POS systems and suspicious money movements.
The investigation also raised questions about Papel’s financial development.
The company was established in 2020 with an initial capital commitment of 7 million TL. Its capital was subsequently increased to 10 million TL in 2021, 50 million TL in 2022, 150 million TL in 2023, and 300 million TL in 2024, according to the indictment cited by Anadolu Agency.
Those increases attracted attention because the company was reportedly declaring relatively low sales and continuing losses during the same period. MASAK also reportedly questioned the economic source of substantial cash financing attributed to Yıldırım.
One of the most significant figures cited in the investigation is approximately 827 million TL in cash inflows associated with Papel’s registered owner, Seyhan İbrahim Yıldırım. Investigators reportedly questioned the source and economic explanation for the money.
These figures are allegations and investigative findings rather than a court determination that the money represented criminal proceeds.
Seyhan Ibrahim Yildirim and the Papel Ownership Structure
Seyhan İbrahim Yıldırım is identified in official company records as Papel’s founder and sole shareholder.
Turkish reports citing the investigation, however, allege that the formal ownership structure may not have represented the people actually controlling the financial network.
According to reporting based on the MASAK analysis, investigators questioned whether Yıldırım was effectively a front or “vitrin” figure while Ferit Samuray and Asil Ersoydan were allegedly operating behind the scenes.
The allegations go further, suggesting that Yıldırım may not have been the ultimate beneficiary of the business despite being the registered owner.
Turkish investigators reportedly examined whether Samuray and Ersoydan could have been acting as the actual beneficial parties behind portions of the structure.
Yıldırım has not been convicted of money laundering or illegal betting offenses in connection with these allegations, and the claims against him remain part of the ongoing judicial process.
Ferit Samuray and Asil Ersoydan
Two of the most closely watched names in the investigation are Ferit Samuray, 49, and Asil Ersoydan, 54.
Both men are reported to be outside Turkey, with Dubai identified as their suspected location. They are also connected to a separate Papara case in Turkey and reportedly have outstanding arrest warrants in that proceeding.
Turkish reports have described Samuray as an important figure in the international side of the alleged network.
He has allegedly been connected to companies carrying the Papel name or associated with the structure in jurisdictions including Cyprus, Lithuania, Estonia and the United Kingdom. Reports have also linked him to the aliases “Nick” and “Niko”, although these claims come from reporting on the investigation rather than a judicial finding.
Ersoydan has separately been described as an important figure in the alleged cryptocurrency side of the operation.
Investigators reportedly traced cryptocurrency transactions involving his accounts, including a transaction worth approximately $13.4 million that was allegedly transferred to an account associated with Ersoydan on Binance Global.
The 13.4 Million Dollar Crypto Transfer
The alleged $13.4 million transaction is one of the most striking details in the case.
According to reporting based on the MASAK investigation, funds originating from addresses associated with suspected illegal betting activity were converted into crypto assets and eventually moved to a Binance Global account associated with Asil Ersoydan.
The alleged route did not stop there.
Investigators reportedly examined transfers moving through Turkish cryptocurrency exchanges and intermediary wallets before funds were allegedly routed toward accounts associated with Criex AG, a Switzerland-based company, on Kraken.
The significance of the transaction is not simply its size. Investigators are examining whether cryptocurrency was used as a mechanism to move money across borders while obscuring the original source of the funds.
The alleged financial trail has been described as extending across Turkey, Dubai, Georgia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
The 413 Million Dollar Figure Comes From the Papara Case
Another enormous figure appearing in reporting about Samuray and Ersoydan is approximately $413.2 million.
However, this amount needs to be put in context.
The $413.2 million figure relates to a separate Papara case, although Samuray and Ersoydan are reportedly defendants in that proceeding as well. Turkish reporting has stated that an indictment in the Papara case identified transfers totaling approximately $413.2 million to cryptocurrency accounts associated with Criex AG.
Therefore, the $413 million figure should not be presented as another $413 million proven to have been laundered through Papel.
Instead, it is relevant because the same two names, Samuray and Ersoydan, reportedly appear in both cases, raising questions for investigators about connections between the payment and cryptocurrency structures.
Former Basketball Federation Executive Dinçer Çetintaş Arrested
The investigation also drew attention because of Dinçer Çetintaş, who previously served as a senior executive at the Turkish Basketball Federation.
Çetintaş previously worked as a general manager at Papel and was among those arrested during the operation. Necmi Özben, another former Papel general manager, was also arrested. Ahmet Avar, Papel’s finance director and a former Turkcell executive, was among the other arrested individuals. Ahmet Serkan Öksüz, a lawyer who had recently joined the company’s management, was also detained and arrested, according to Turkish reporting.
The allegations do not mean that every arrested executive was involved in the alleged movement of criminal proceeds.
Çetintaş’s lawyer, for example, reportedly argued that his client had worked at Papel between December 2021 and June 2023 and did not possess authority over the company’s financial transactions. The defense also disputed the suggestion that Çetintaş had a role in the alleged financial activity.
Those defenses will ultimately be assessed through the Turkish judicial process.
MASAK Found Thousands of High Risk Customers
The case became even more significant after investigators examined Papel’s customer network.
According to the indictment, a Turkish Central Bank external audit identified approximately 43,488 customers connected to 238 accounts previously reported as being associated with illegal betting.
The same analysis reportedly identified 31,115 users who received substantial wallet-to-wallet transfers despite comparatively low amounts being loaded into their accounts from banks.
Investigators also identified 1,777 active high-risk customers, according to the indictment cited by Anadolu Agency.
The findings reportedly raised concerns that the activity was not simply a collection of isolated suspicious transactions.
Instead, investigators argued that the pattern could indicate an organized system in which funds connected to illegal betting were collected, distributed between electronic wallets and ultimately moved into the wider financial system.
The indictment also reportedly referred to digital evidence found on computers used within Papel and records involving numerous betting and gambling platforms.
44 People Face Charges
By June 2026, the investigation had moved beyond the initial arrests.
Turkish prosecutors prepared an indictment concerning 44 suspects, with allegations centered on the use of Papel’s payment infrastructure to facilitate illegal betting-related transfers and the laundering of unlawful proceeds. Reports said some defendants could face prison sentences of up to 27 years depending on the charges ultimately established by the courts.
Among the names identified in reporting on the indictment are Seyhan İbrahim Yıldırım, Ferit Samuray, Asil Ersoydan, Ahmet Avar and Erol Albayrak.
The indictment represents prosecutors’ allegations and is not equivalent to a criminal conviction.
From Electronic Money to Dubai and Crypto
The Papel case illustrates why Turkish authorities have increasingly focused on payment companies and cryptocurrency networks in financial crime investigations.
The alleged structure described in the case involved several layers.
Money suspected of originating from illegal betting activity was allegedly introduced into electronic payment accounts. From there, investigators say it could move between wallets, payment accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges before reaching overseas entities and individuals.
Dubai appears repeatedly in the investigation because of the alleged presence of Samuray and Ersoydan there and the reported cryptocurrency trail involving Ersoydan.
The investigation also examined foreign companies and accounts in several jurisdictions, creating a financial trail that extended far beyond Turkey.
The Questions Still Surrounding Papel
The central question now is not simply how much money passed through Papel.
Investigators are trying to establish who controlled the network, who benefited from the transactions and whether Papel’s infrastructure was knowingly used to facilitate illegal betting and the laundering of criminal proceeds.
The numbers are substantial. Investigators have cited an approximately 1.5 billion TL transaction volume connected to the Papel network, an alleged 827 million TL in unexplained cash inflows associated with Yıldırım, and a separate $13.4 million cryptocurrency transfer linked in reporting to Ersoydan.
The much larger $413.2 million figure belongs to the separate Papara proceeding, but its relevance comes from the reported involvement of the same two fugitives, Ferit Samuray and Asil Ersoydan.
As the case proceeds, the Turkish courts will ultimately have to determine which of these financial movements represented legitimate commercial activity and which, if any, constituted criminal conduct.
For now, the Papel investigation has exposed a complex alleged financial network connecting electronic payments, illegal betting, cryptocurrency and offshore jurisdictions, with Seyhan İbrahim Yıldırım, Ferit Samuray and Asil Ersoydan among the most prominent names appearing in the case.
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