The 'revenge' detail in the Dilan and Engin Polat case: Influencer Erkan Şahin testified as a witness

Engin and Dilan Polat, along with 28 other suspects, are being tried on charges of “money laundering.” The indictment prepared against them includes testimony provided by Erkan Şahin, who is currently in prison in connection with a separate investigation. Şahin's testimony was included in the indictment as evidence for allegations that the suspect Engin Polat facilitated the flow of money from illegal betting organizations.

According to the report by Aziz Özen and Ayşegül Usta from Hürriyet; Erkan Şahin explained the following in his testimony included in the indictment:

“I met the couple Engin Polat and Dilan Polat, who are in your investigation, through Ahmet Selim Yazıcı, an employee of Seyhan Soylu. In 2021, after Ahmet Selim mentioned to me that there was an influencer network, I met Dilan and Engin.”

THE 'ECE RONAY' DETAIL

“On March 16, 2021, I met and chatted in Ortaköy with Ahmet Selim, Dilan, Engin, and a person named Mustafa, whose nickname is ‘Mıstık’ (organization manager Mustafa Özalp). The process that began on March 16, 2021, continued to develop through many collaborations, promotional films, and social media interactions we carried out until February 2022. When we reached February 2022, we met Ece Taylan Ronay, who was the girlfriend of a very close friend of mine at the time. Afterward, I shot and shared a video with Ece Ronay. ‘Mıstık’ saw this video and had my Instagram account shut down. When Dilan Polat found out about the situation, she started making lynching and aggressive posts about me.

At that time, there was a dispute between Dilan Polat and Ece Ronay regarding the districts and neighborhoods where beauty centers would be opened. They had an antipathy toward each other because they were in commercial competition. After these events, ‘Mıstık’ told me openly that I should either work only with them or they would finish me on social media and not let me exist. I got angry, and with that anger, I wanted to gain remote access to their mobile phones and computers to see their contents. In the IT world, we call this ‘ratting.’ When a person’s phone or computer is ratted, all data can be seen. The person is not even aware that their phone has been ratted.”

CRYPTOCURRENCY DETAIL

“Out of anger, I ratted Engin Polat’s phone in October 2022, Dilan and Engin Polat’s phones in February 2023, and ‘Mıstık’s’ phone in August 2023. During the period I was tracking Engin Polat’s phone, I saw from the content of his correspondence via ICQ that they were talking about illegal betting. From what I understood from the conversations, Engin Polat was receiving up to 40 percent of the principal he put into the established sites back as a daily profit share in cryptocurrency. During the period I had remote access to Engin Polat’s phone, I observed in the conversation contents that Kenan Özkan, İlayda Topal, and Nez Demir were involved in the cryptocurrency transfer.”

SENT THE INFORMATION TO CIMER

“I remotely accessed and stored the data that I thought could reveal the connection between the Engin Polat - Dilan Polat couple and illegal betting. Afterward, I put this data into a USB drive. As an IT expert influencer, I did such a thing out of anger because they attacked me very severely. I decided that sharing this with judicial authorities would be the right thing to do. As of that time, I forwarded the data I obtained to state authorities in many ways, by complaining to CIMER, applying to USOM, and sending emails to state institutions. However, I see that it has not been processed to this day. For this reason, when I learned about the investigation, I wanted to share this with you to contribute.”

DESCRIBED THE LOCATION OF THE USB

In his testimony, Erkan Şahin also described the location of the USB drive containing all the data obtained from Dilan and Engin Polat’s digital materials. Şahin said, “The USB is in the house where I lived before I went to prison. It is in a box where I keep such items. My box is also in my room in the area where the computer desk is located. If the investigative authorities cannot obtain the USB, I will send it through my lawyer.”

CONNECTION TO BETTING SITES REVEALED

The prosecutor's office, which conducted research on the information provided by Erkan Şahin following his testimony, included the following in the indictment: “It has been determined that the sites in question were established for an illegal betting organization. Therefore, the connection of the suspect Engin Polat to illegal betting sites named ‘vdcasino.com’ and ‘vidobet.com,’ in addition to the illegal betting site named ‘Jasmin Bet,’ has been revealed.”

The indictment also stated that, considering Dilan Polat’s narratives regarding Erkan Şahin’s efforts to promote illegal betting sites under the management and direction of organization leader Engin Polat via social media and increase their followers, she played an active role in both increasing the amount of illegal money obtained and growing the monetary volume, and it was alleged that she was an organization manager due to her position.

‘COLD WALLET’ DETAIL

Other details also emerged in the 75-page indictment prepared against Dilan and Engin Polat. It was alleged that the Polat couple tried to launder money obtained through illegal means by transferring it without entering the system using the ‘cold wallet’ method, and that they mostly collected the money accumulated in the companies by withdrawing cash. As a final move, it was claimed that they tried to complete the laundering process by depositing the money in cash into the bank accounts of Milda Gayrimenkul Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., where Engin Polat is the sole partner and manager, and where they kept the money in the cleanest way within the companies. The indictment also stated that the leader of the organization was Engin Polat, and the managers were Alper Kürşat Polat, Sezgin Polat, Ahmet Gün, Dilan Polat, Mustafa Özalp, and Sinem Sıla Doğu.