Russian-born billionaire Timur Turlov and his controlled company, Freedom Finance, have become concerned about their reputation six months after complaints from victims.
Reports the by KazTAG.
“The information about the activities of Freedom Finance and T. Turlov (the beneficiary of Freedom Finance) leads to a negative attitude among readers towards Freedom Finance and also shapes public opinion regarding Freedom Finance committing illegal actions. This, in turn, harms the business reputation of Freedom Finance,” reads Freedom Finance’s claim filed on 2 October, naming the news agency KazTAG and lawyer Svetlana Oralbayeva as defendants.
The company asks the court to recognise as false and damaging to its business reputation several statements made by Oralbayeva on 3 April, in which she discussed the loss of investors’ funds who trusted Freedom Finance employees, mentioned fund transfers to offshore accounts, and compared Turlov to the scandalous founder of the Russian financial pyramid “MMM,” Sergey Mavrodi, sharing the opinion that such frauds could not have occurred without the billionaire’s knowledge. According to the company, the reputation was also affected by information about the suicide of one of the investors who lost money.
It is worth noting that the investor’s suicide is a confirmed fact. Freedom Finance ignored KazTAG’s requests for months, which were sent in accordance with objective journalism principles to give the agency a chance to present the other side. Moreover, Turlov himself ignored multiple requests from KazTAG. Freedom Finance only responded for the first time in June, which was reflected in the corresponding article.
Meanwhile, former Freedom Finance top manager Temirlan Bekov is currently suing KazTAG, demanding the removal of an article about the criminal case against him. Notably, he does not seek a retraction of the published information but only its removal – previously, he unsuccessfully requested a court ban on KazTAG covering the trial.
Recent publications by KazTAG about Freedom Finance include reports from 6 October, in which investors appealed to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, noting that no one else wants to build a rule-of-law state. At the same press conference, Sergey Zavedev from the Russian investigative outlet “Author I” spoke about the pressure on the media regarding publications about “Tsifra Bank” and “Tsifra Broker,” linked to Freedom Finance and Turlov.
Additionally, on 14 October, KazTAG reported that former Freedom Finance branch manager Ruslan Kakenov was sentenced to five years in Kostanay.
The situation surrounding Freedom Finance is also causing concern among government representatives. On 28 May, Mazhilis deputy Aidos Sarym admitted that he would not like the state to be involved in rescuing this “financial institution” in the future.
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