Turkish authorities have frozen assets linked to executives of nine financial firms, including three brokerages, as prosecutors widen a criminal investigation into the country's collapsed investment funds. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced the measures on Monday in a post on X.
The order covers board chairs and members, authorized signatories, their spouses and first-degree relatives. Those named cannot carry out transactions that reduce their assets without prosecutors' approval, according to Turkish media reports of the minister's statement.
The firms are Pusula Finans Holding, Pusula Yatırım Menkul Değerler, Tera Yatırım Menkul Değerler, Tera Portföy Yönetimi, Hedef Holding, Hedef Portföy Yönetimi, Bulls Yatırım Menkul Değerler, Bulls Portföy Yönetimi and Ufuk Yatırım Yönetim ve Gayrimenkul. Three of them — Tera Yatırım, Pusula Yatırım and Bulls Yatırım — are brokerage firms rather than fund managers or holding companies. Tera Yatırım's shares trade on Borsa Istanbul.
To enforce the freeze, authorities notified the Turkish banking and participation banking associations, the land registry, notaries, maritime and civil aviation authorities and the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK).
Arrests and detentions mount
Police arrested Pusula Portföy Chairman Muhammed Yariz on Thursday and detained Hedef Holding Chairman Namık Kemal Gökalp, Destek Holding majority owner Altunç Kumova and Tera Portföy Deputy Chief Executive İbrahim Bekci. On Friday, Gürlek said four suspects had been arrested and 51 people barred from leaving the country. Over the weekend, police detained Tera Holding Chairman Emre Tezmen, board members Emre Alkın and Kerem Alkın, and Pusula Holding Chairman Serdar Turhan, Bloomberg reported.
Gürlek also said prosecutors had opened proceedings against 25 suspects over trading in shares of KatılımEvim Tasarruf Finansman, a savings finance company listed under the ticker KTLEV. Police detained 15 of them, while 10 are still being sought. The operation followed a September 17 inspection report by the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (SPK) that found market fraud in the stock, according to Turkish media.
$11 billion drained from the fund industry
Turkish investment funds lost 510 billion lira (about $11 billion) in assets between the end of August and September 18, according to Central Securities Depository data cited by Bloomberg. The Borsa Istanbul All Shares Index fell 10% last week, erasing roughly $51 billion from the value of Turkish stocks in the biggest weekly drop since March 2025, Bloomberg reported.
The turmoil began in August, when tighter rules on equity funds holding concentrated positions in thinly traded stocks forced selling, Bloomberg reported. Last week, funds run by Tera Portföy and Pusula Portföy said they could not meet redemption requests.
Tera Portföy said in a filing to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) that it had received about 300 billion lira of redemption requests in a short period and had paid those submitted between September 16 and 18 for four of its funds. Further payments stopped after Takasbank blocked its accounts at the end of September 18, the company said.
Regulator extends liquidation window
On Thursday, the SPK halted trading in funds run by seven managers and ordered 131 of them liquidated, with Türkiye İş Bankası and Ziraat Bankası overseeing the process. On Sunday, the regulator extended the liquidation period to six months from three so that assets can be sold "under the most favorable terms possible," adding that the process could end sooner if conditions allow.
The case lands on an already tightly regulated retail market. The SPK capped forex leverage at 1:10 and set a TRY 50,000 minimum deposit in 2017 — rules XTB cited when it closed its Turkish subsidiary in 2018. Capital.com said last year it was seeking a local licence. Separately, Turkish police detained 175 people last week in an alleged forex and crypto fraud network that moved about $266 million.
