A criminal court in Silivri, on the outskirts of Istanbul, ordered Kubilay Akyol held in pretrial detention on July 28, 2026. Akyol had posed as a judge with Turkey’s Ministry of Justice for years, convincing his own wife, a doctor, that he held the position. Two co-defendants were jailed alongside him on charges of forming a criminal organization and aggravated fraud, according to Sabah, published July 28, 2026.
Istanbul gendarmerie searched his home on July 23, 2026, coordinated by the Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. They seized a judge’s robe, 285 grams of gold bars, €6,990 and $8,080 in cash, and promissory notes worth €1 million, according to Takvim, published July 23, 2026.
“I introduced myself as a judge on social media. I built my entire life on a lie. I aspired to be a judge,” Akyol said, according to Sabah, published July 28, 2026.
Investigators say Akyol led a five-person group that included three lawyers. The group allegedly promised people with pending legal problems that “we will resolve your case” in exchange for money, leaning on Akyol’s claimed judicial standing to win their trust. Prosecutors filed two charges: forming an organization to commit crime, and aggravated fraud, Takvim reported on July 23, 2026.
The judge persona bled into his daily life. In his neighborhood, Akyol introduced himself as “a judge at the Ministry of Justice” and claimed a parking spot outside his building, telling neighbors his car could have a bomb planted in it and needed to stay within camera range. Neighbors filed a complaint with CİMER, the presidential communications center, roughly five years earlier. Nothing came of it, according to Sabah.
The impersonation is not an isolated case. In Colombia, a fake surgeon with no medical training performed laser liposuction until one of his patients died, before his arrest in May 2026.
Two of the co-defendants dispute the charges. Asuman Bakaç, accused of supplying the robe, and attorney Halil İbrahim Alagöz both say Akyol deceived them as well.
On the day of the raid, plainclothes gendarmerie officers walked Akyol out of his building. Neighbors, believing they were watching a real judge being abducted, called the police to report a kidnapping, according to Takvim, published July 28, 2026.
