According to a letter dated September 30, 2026, from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, four investigations are being conducted following reports that manipulation was carried out in certain stocks on the Borsa İstanbul Equity Market using portfolio management companies and funds. The linked, simultaneous movements between the stocks and funds open and closed to TEFAS are being examined. The cases are being evaluated within the scope of qualified fraud, forming an organization, laundering assets derived from crime, and market manipulation. The prosecutor’s office emphasized SPK’s (Turkey’s capital markets regulator) responsibility to supervise funds, investor rights, and artificial price movements, and reported that some reports covering the period from 2024 through September 2026 contained criminal complaints. The funds under examination are as follows:
- Tera Portföy Birinci Serbest Fon
- Pusula Portföy Hisse Senedi Fonu
- Pusula Portföy Birinci Değişken Fon
- Tera Portföy Algoritmik Stratejiler Serbest Fon
- Atlas Portföy Serbest Fon
- Hedef Portföy İkinci Serbest Fon
“Impossible” gains, investor harm, and principal losses were identified in some funds. It was stated that there were indications that İbrahim Ömer Gönül had failed to fulfill his responsibilities, and permission to investigate was requested from the Ministry of Treasury and Finance under Article 133 of Law No. 6362.
Why it matters
The file’s focus is not limited to the examination of certain stock and fund transactions; it also concerns the questioning of coordination between fund management and market movements in terms of investor confidence. The principal losses and instances of harm identified in the funds indicate that the examination is directly linked to investor protection and the functioning of oversight mechanisms. The request for permission concerning İbrahim Ömer Gönül, the former SPK (Turkey’s capital markets regulator) Chair, shows that the investigation is also addressing potential responsibilities in terms of institutional management and official duties; however, this request alone does not mean that liability has been conclusively established. In the period ahead, it remains unclear how the related transactions will be assessed, whether the scope of the losses will be clarified, and what legal outcomes the investigations will produce.
Background
Istanbul is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: over the past 90 days, we have published 17 news articles mentioning it; the latest is dated October 2, 2026.