Turkey’s $17bn fund scandal becomes a political crisis for Erdogan

A crisis involving Turkish investment funds accused of running Ponzi-like schemes has affected half a million people, with authorities ordering the liquidation of some 130 funds worth $17bn earlier this month. Already historic in scale, the financial turmoil has quickly become a major political crisis for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration, exposing a web of connections between the funds, their managers and the ruling elite.