All roads lead to dirty money
Recent operations have exposed the country's descent into a swamp of dirty money. The source of the money behind these luxurious lifestyles points to a vast darkness. Famous faces meet with those who launder the money of major barons in the underworld.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's drug operations are spreading like wildfire. While the tabloid aspect of the operations is spread out in all its details, the big picture reveals a massive money laundering network.
Let's take a closer look at a striking example of this.
One of those detained in the drug and prostitution operations was Cihan Şensözlü, who used the name “Cihanna” on his social media accounts.
On 21 December 2025, he was arrested for “encouraging, facilitating, brokering or providing a place for prostitution”. In his statement, Cihan Şensözlü described his profession as “journalist” and said his monthly income was 120,000 TL. He wrote a column in the Hürriyet newspaper. He had secured this column because he was a close friend of Revna Demirören, a member of the Demirören family, who owns the newspaper.
From his social media posts, it was apparent that Cihan Şensözlü was living a very luxurious lifestyle that was inconsistent with his declared financial income. He constantly posted about being abroad, staying in luxury hotels, going on holidays, and wearing very expensive clothes. The prosecutor's investigation also found that he frequently travelled to Dubai, Paris, and London. Known as an influencer, Cihan Şensözlü also advertised certain brands.
HAD HE MET WITH THE BARONS' TREASURY?
A confidential witness claimed that Cihan Şensözlü took some female social media personalities to Dubai and facilitated their sexual encounters with Arab sheikhs in exchange for money.
Cihan Şensözlü denied the prostitution allegations. He claimed that he had not attended parties for three years and that his trips abroad were for holiday purposes.
In his statement, Cihan Şensözlü said in response to a question:
‘I did not meet with anyone in Dubai who was involved in any way. I did not bring back any information from these people.’
İsmail Saymaz wrote here that Cihan Şensözlü was asked “whether he met with Hasan Lala in Dubai” and gave this answer.
The world is very small, and the underworld is even smaller...
According to the allegations, the phenomenon at the heart of the tabloid world, in full view of everyone, met with Hasan Lala, who is alleged to have laundered money for major drug barons in Dubai.
Hasan Lala, who uses the name “Burhan”, had been in the spotlight in Turkey's biggest baron case.
REMINDER: MAJOR OPERATION
On 13 June 2023, a operation targeting Europe's largest drug traffickers was carried out in Turkey. The police aimed to arrest Dutch nationals Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers and Isaac Bignan.
Leijdekkers, nicknamed “Tombul Jos”, could not be apprehended, but his alleged Turkish accomplice, Abdullah Alp Üstün, was arrested at a villa in Bodrum. Days later, Isaac Bignan, nicknamed “Kara Mamba”, was detained while attempting to flee Turkey. British drug smuggler Christopher Mark Grogan (Can Yavuz) and Spanish drug smuggler Nadır Aıt Tarım Cobo were also named as defendants in the case. Turkey's biggest “Barons Trial” began. The indictment alleged that Abdullah Alp Üstün was the “father” of even the European barons. According to solutions in the encrypted communication system, Abdullah Alp Üstün's code name was ‘Don Vito Corleone’ because he loved the film “The Godfather”.
Three flats he had purchased in Quasar, one of Istanbul's most luxurious skyscrapers in Şişli, contained paintings of Don Vito Corleone, portrayed by Marlon Brando, and scenes from The Godfather film.
MONEY LAUNDERING GALLERY
According to the prosecutor's claim, Hasan Lala was laundering the dirty money of this large drug network. Hasan Lala was the owner of Autobank, a luxury car dealership in Etiler, Istanbul. In his ostentatious gallery in the heart of Istanbul, he laundered hundreds of millions of dollars by continuously buying and selling luxury cars for cash through seven companies. Mercedes, Lamborghini, and Porsche vehicles, which appeared to belong to British, Dutch, and Spanish barons, were bought and sold multiple times within a few days. Some of the confessed individuals in the case claimed that Abdullah Alp Üstün and Hasan Lala had joint ventures abroad.
Hasan Lala was not caught in the barons operation. He had left the country. As a result of these operations, the ultra-luxury cars seized from Hasan Lala's gallery were turned into police vehicles. They were displayed as police cars in the busiest areas of Istanbul. A total of 100 billion TL worth of assets were seized.
In Turkey's biggest barons case, all defendants were released after only 1.5 years. Upon the prosecutor's objection, an arrest warrant was issued again five days later, but the defendants had already disappeared. The Council of Judges and Prosecutors launched an investigation into the court panel that issued the release decision, and the panel was suspended.
Abdullah Alp Üstün and Hasan Lala, who were wanted under a Red Notice, were arrested in Dubai in October 2025 and extradited to Turkey. The Ministry of the Interior shared these moments in a video clip.
THE STRANGE STORY OF GARİPOĞLU
At the centre of the other money laundering operations indicated by these operations is Kasım Garipoğlu. He is the cousin of Cem Garipoğlu, who murdered Münevver Karabulut, and the son of businessman Hayyam Garipoğlu. Kasım Garipoğlu was not detained because he was abroad.
According to allegations in the investigation, Kasım Garipoğlu organised drug and sex parties at his mansion and yacht in the Bosphorus, accessible only with a special code and reference. He spent millions of lira on these parties, which he held twice a month. Behind this wealth lie scandals that expose corruption within the state.
Kasım Garipoğlu filed a complaint with the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on 30 September 2020. He stated that he was the owner of GKG, a company that acts as an intermediary in the purchase and sale of financial products. He accused six managers of the company of stealing $30 million from company accounts during the 15-month period between 2019 and 2020. The accused individuals were arrested, but there was something peculiar. 350 million TL, transported in suitcases and sacks from currency exchange offices and jewellers in the Grand Bazaar, had been deposited into the company's safe. However, the investigation did not pursue this money.
Allegedly, the illicit funds were transferred to Asian markets disguised as Forex and other financial investments from the company's accounts. Additionally, Kasım Garipoğlu had filed complaints against his own employees to avoid charges from other investors he had defrauded. Journalist Miyase İlknur, who wrote about the case, reported that one of the company employees accused by Kasım Garipoğlu had committed suicide in prison. Garipoğlu stated that when no case was filed against him at the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan, he moved the company's address to Bağcılar for three days, filed a case at the Bakırköy Courthouse, and obtained an arrest warrant.
WHO PROTECTED HIM
It was alleged that Kasım Garipoğlu operated in the Forex and cryptocurrency markets without a licence.
Kasım Garipoğlu had acquired citizenship from the Dominican Republic six years ago. Before the operations, he had transferred most of his assets to the US and established companies in Miami. He had even registered his yacht under these companies. He now continues his luxurious life in the US.
In summary, the parties at the mansion and on the yacht were part of a massive money laundering scheme. While the country is consumed with discussions about which celebrities attended these parties, the truly important questions remain unanswered.
Why did state institutions turn a blind eye while Kasım Garipoğlu transported cash in suitcases and sacks to his company and put it into circulation? Who stopped the institutions responsible for monitoring this, how, and in exchange for what? Where did this money come from? Why were the individuals accused by Kasım Garipoğlu detained for trial, while no action was taken against the allegations against Kasım Garipoğlu himself? Who were his connections in the judiciary and state institutions? Did Kasım Garipoğlu flee abroad after receiving advance information about the operation? Was the reason he moved his assets abroad beforehand because of information whispered in his ear? The questions could be multiplied. But there is one indisputable fact. The corruption that has been exposed did not happen overnight. It is a system. A system where the state is rotten, where criminals plunder the people's resources, where dirty money runs rampant, where justice does not prevail...
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Bütün yollar kara paraya çıkıyor, published in BirGün newspaper on December 28, 2025.
