Kıvanç and Beril Talu appear in court for the first time! 'We did not defraud anyone'

Social media influencers Beril and Kıvanç Talu were arrested and sent to prison on January 5, 2024, on allegations of committing a 150 million lira fraud. The Talu couple, who face up to 195 years in prison each, appeared in court for the first time today.

'Var böyle tipler' (There are such types) social media influencer Kıvanç Talu and Beril Talu were alleged to have committed a fraud of approximately 150 million lira and fled abroad. The Talu couple, who arrived at Sabiha Gökçen Airport from Georgia on January 5, 2024, were detained at the airport. The couple was brought to the Anatolian Courthouse in Kartal, where their statements were taken by the prosecutor's office.

After their procedures at the prosecutor's office were completed, Beril and Kıvanç Talu were arrested by the Criminal Court of Peace for the crime of 'fraud during the commercial activities of persons who are merchants or company managers or who act on behalf of a company; or fraud by cooperative managers within the scope of the cooperative's activities'. The hearing began around 12:15 PM.

THEY WERE ARRESTED ON JANUARY 5, 2024

The Talu couple, who were arrested on January 5, 2024, appeared in court for the first time today. The hearing, which was held at the 4th High Criminal Court of the Anatolian Courthouse in Kartal and began at 12:15 PM, was attended by the detained defendants Kıvanç Talu and Beril Talu, who were brought from the prison where they are being held. Non-detained defendant Ertan Koç, as well as the complainants and lawyers, were also present in the courtroom.

'I ONLY HANDLE THE INVOICING PROCESS'

According to the DHA report, the hearing began with the defense of the non-detained defendant Ertan Koç. In his defense, non-detained defendant Ertan Koç said, "My daughter Beril and my son-in-law Kıvanç were working at the 'Var böyle tipler' company. I was only tracking the paperwork, and the money was coming into my account. Recently, because they could not pay their debts, I started selling all my assets to pay off the debts. The complainants do not know me; I have never met with them. I am a retiree; I had my own transport company in İzmir, which I closed around 2010. I only handled payments, invoicing, and tax payments. My daughter Beril and my son-in-law were also working at a firm; because they were working very intensely, I opened the company in my own name to handle the paperwork. I only tracked taxes and handled advertising work. My daughter and son-in-law were the faces on screen. They were doing advertising work and voice-over work. Kıvanç was doing the preliminary negotiations with the companies. I would handle the invoicing and tax payments at the end of the day once the project was done and the transactions were finished. The incoming money would come into the account and would be withdrawn from within the company with an invoice. There were advertisements we took on for transport and voice-over work; we mostly took them on through transport. No money ever came from the company's account. That money came from my personal account. My daughter Beril said the money coming in was 'debt'. We did not have very high incomes. They borrowed money to do business, for projects."

'BECAUSE WE WERE THOUGHT TO BE FRAUDSTERS, THE ADVERTISING FIRMS WE WORKED WITH DID NOT PAY'

In his defense, detained defendant Kıvanç Talu said, "My wife and I have been advertisers for 11 years. I am in the creative, creative ideas part of the business. My wife is a producer and deals with production. My wife borrowed money from her close circle to run the advertisements. Borrowing money with interest to bring these productions to life was something done in the sector. During this process, we were paying off the debts in question throughout 2023. When there were cases where some projects were abandoned at the last minute, there were delays in the payment of debts. My wife's father, Ertan Koç, sold his car and a fishing boat; we sold our car. During this process, my wife closed some debts with debt. We continued to close debt with debt so as not to victimize anyone. My wife was called to a house in Pendik. My wife was threatened by the spouse of the creditor in that house; she was very scared and called me, saying, 'They will harm us because of these debts.' I am a family man; I have a 4-year-old child. Because of these threats, I took my wife and child abroad for a 3-week period. A lynching campaign was started on all news channels in Turkey, calling us 'liars, fraudulent influencers.' People on the street also thought we were fraudsters; we are not such people. Because the whole country thought we were fraudsters, the advertising companies did not make payments. We entered the New Year with our son. On January 4, my wife and I went to the Gayrettepe Public Security Branch with my lawyer. In this situation, we were taken with our heads bowed and our hands handcuffed. We want to pay and close this remaining debt. We were working and paying off the debts. We are in prison and cannot work. We did not want to victimize anyone. The situation in question is just a commercial debt; we stand behind this debt. We only went abroad for 3 weeks because we were afraid that we would be harmed."

'WE TOOK THE MONEY IN QUESTION AS A LOAN'

Continuing his defense, defendant Kıvanç Talu said, "We took these debts to be able to cover the advertising projects we were doing and would do, and to keep the production costs. These debts are something my wife did with people she had relationships with and knew. There are dozens of projects in question. Financial management regarding the subject, the distribution of debts, and which stage of which project the borrowed money would be used in were managed by my wife. I am in the creative and brand presentation stage of the business. Ertan Bey's wanting to direct the situation to me was for me to manage the creative ideas I presented through the company and brands. These are jobs that require shooting and production; the person who runs the whole big operation, the completed image you see on the screen, is my wife. As for the invoicing regarding these projects, Ertan Bey was doing it; I am only on the idea side. I am also the face of Samsung. We have many advertisements that we run at the same time."

'WE HAVE DONE 4.5 MILLION WORTH OF WORK WITH INVOICES'

Defendant Kıvanç Talu said, "The situation in question emerged from the second half of 2023 onwards because we could not keep up with the debts. As can be seen in the MASAK reports, we did 4.5 million worth of work with invoices in 2023. The money that came in was the money that came from these jobs we did, from the brands we listed. With every incoming payment, we continued to pay off debt. As the time for the work we did to come to life lengthened, the work was losing momentum. Until these events happened, we had dozens of projects that we were holding simultaneously. It wasn't that we presented the projects, got our money that week, and it was over. For example, in the first job we did with Samsung, we were going to earn 700 million lira. We made a loss in production on that job. We took the money in question as a loan. I know we did business with debt. I know how much people pressured my wife and me, and called us. I tried to work day and night with my wife to produce new ideas. We are not fraudsters, and we did not defraud anyone. We tried to do a job with debt. Everyone thought we were fraudsters. I wanted to protect my child. I am aware that my wife was borrowing; there is no question of me making promises to people."

'WE COULD NOT SET UP A COMPANY IN OUR OWN NAMES BECAUSE WE WERE WORKING'

Detained defendant Beril Talu, in her defense, said, "I worked at a company affiliated with the UK from 2013 until February 2023. I worked at the company for about 10 years; at the end of 10 years, in February 2023, I was forced to resign improperly. Regarding the issue I was blackmailed about, at the end of the year, when I was told, 'There are some problems in the audit, you appear as the authorized person in the company,' I said, 'I do not have signature authority; I have verbal authority.' They said there was an unissued invoice of 5.5 million, and pressure was applied for me to resign, so I submitted my resignation. A debt of 5.5 million remained from the company to me. My husband and I racked our brains on which brand we could present to, to pay off these debts. We sold my father's existing assets. I only took money as capital and debt. I explained the reason for borrowing to the person I borrowed from. No one's statement here can be the same. There are also people I did not chat with about debt. Kıvanç worked on the creative side, and I worked on how much profit we would make. During this time, we started looking for loans from people you know. In 2023, after I left the job, we started doing business as a production company. Because we were working on the job, we could not set up a company in our own names; instead of going to a stranger, we opened it in my father's name because he was retired and we knew him. My father's duty was only to issue invoices through the system and send the photo to me. We started to get into debt, we started to pay off the debts, and we started to do business."

'I BORROWED MONEY FROM THE COMPLAINANTS WITH INTEREST'

Continuing her defense, defendant Beril Talu said, "I borrowed money from the complainant Orçun Bey for a project; this situation is documented. He was also very curious and eager about these situations. I asked him for a loan in exchange for 100 percent interest, and his statements are correct. I met with him and his wife; I invited them to my home. We borrow money from people we know. There were times when I paid off debt with debt and paid off debt by taking out a loan. When I said I was being threatened and what I would do, it was a situation where I asked for the payment coming to my father to be sent to my personal account and I paid it. I don't know some of the complainants here at all. I always borrowed money from the complainants with interest and paid it back with interest. I don't know the complainant Neziha Hasoğlu; when I said I couldn't pay the debt and it would take time, we met face to face. I know the complainant Cemal Batuhan. I borrowed money from him with interest. I know the complainant Ramazan Sarhan; we also worked together in the past. He has visited our home; I borrowed money in exchange for interest. Different amounts appear in the MASAK report and in the complainant's statement. I don't think I have a debt of 800 thousand lira. I made a serious repayment to the family of the complainant Burçin Kaya. I have known the complainant Songül for a long time and I love her very much. She was always by my side when I was doing my job, when I was breastfeeding my child, and when I was getting married. She took out a loan on her own initiative and lent it to me. Songül knows that I am looking for debt; she was borrowing money as an intermediary for people; I don't know if she has any benefit on my behalf. I say I will call Songül and Ramazan and make a payment, everyone freezes; I expressed that I would say that they should have said 'We borrowed money for work, we will make a repayment' instead of not being able to say it." Talu continued her defense, "I have been in detention for 1 year. I don't know what I will face when I get out tomorrow or the next day. All my account statements are clear; I am not in a position to cover the damage right now. There are also people I borrowed from who are not complainants. It is not right at all for them to expect me to pay off the debt suddenly while I have been in detention for 1 year."