Victims of fraud by top managers of Freedom Holding Corp., controlled by businessman of Russian origin Timur Turlov, have refuted — including with documented proof — his claims regarding the criminal cases, in which he alleged that “the dispute concerns only individuals who had civil-law relations with each other,” thereby catching him in an outright lie.
“One of his statements — that supposedly ‘these are relations between individuals,’ as if we just didn’t share some stocks or money we sent each other, or had some kind of ‘civil-law relations’ — this is misleading Kazakh citizens. We have all the facts and evidence in our hands. We have contracts with FFIN Brokerage Services, where the only director is Timur Turlov. Secondly, we have contracts with Freedom Finance. We have money transfers to Turlov’s company — not to any employees’ personal accounts. We didn’t sign contracts in anyone’s home — not with Bekov, Svetov, or anyone else. We signed contracts officially under the Freedom Finance brand. All contracts were numbered and properly documented. All our money went there. So what kind of ‘relations between individuals’ is Turlov talking about?” said victim Zhanna Kapparova in a comment to KazTAG on Friday.
She called Turlov’s statements entirely predictable.
“This was expected from a company that never entered into negotiations, never investigated what really happened, never sought the truth. It was expected from a company that didn’t come forward for dialogue, never held an open press conference, never examined the cases, and did nothing for its clients. But it was not expected from the ‘head of a major international company,’ as Turlov positions himself — a company that should be client-oriented, that should investigate where not just ‘a few pennies,’ but millions and billions of tenge disappeared — into offshore accounts,” she added.
Kapparova also noted that as the head of a large international company, Turlov knows perfectly well that Freedom Holding has a compliance department.
“Where was compliance looking? Compliance is an internal control system ensuring that the company’s activities comply with laws and internal policies. Effective compliance means the company must prevent and detect any violations. Moreover, under the rules of the stock market where Freedom Holding operates — with Timur Turlov as one of its founders — he must know how compliance works. As the head and founder of several companies, he is legally responsible under Kazakh law for the actions of his employees. Therefore, hearing such statements from the ‘leader of a major company’ and ‘a prominent businessman’ is simply ridiculous and disrespectful toward us, the investors who trusted him and his company,” she said.
She emphasized that investors signed contracts “not somewhere on the side, but in Freedom Finance.”
“We trusted Freedom Finance and Timur Turlov personally. The company then assigned its employees to work with us — naturally, not every investor could work directly with Turlov. We worked with his subordinates. Maybe that’s what he means by ‘relations between individuals’? Yes, we had business relations — Bekov took our logins and passwords, saying, ‘That’s normal practice,’ which other investors have also confirmed,” Kapparova said.
She also expressed readiness for dialogue:
“Normally, heads of major international companies come out publicly, hold press conferences with their investors and clients when something happens, and resolve issues openly — that’s what we proposed: for Timur Turlov to attend a press conference, start a dialogue, answer all questions, and settle everything transparently, as any serious international company should. We reached out through hotlines, emails, and public appeals directly to Turlov — but received no response. We’re still ready to hold a public press conference. We have nothing to hide — we’re telling the truth,” she said.
Victims also provided KazTAG editors with copies of contracts bearing the seals of FFIN Brokerage Services Inc., controlled by Turlov, and demonstrated further evidence of transactions in the Tradernet.kz system of Freedom Finance, proving they were indeed investors of Turlov’s company — not “individuals,” as Turlov had claimed earlier at the Astana International Forum when responding to a Ulysmedia journalist’s question.
KazTAG reminds that spreading knowingly false information in Kazakhstan carries both administrative and criminal liability. The editorial office therefore draws the attention of law enforcement authorities to Turlov’s false statements.
According to information obtained by KazTAG in March, in August 2024, Freedom Finance JSC launched an internal investigation into executive director V. Svetov. The probe found that Svetov had abused his position and client trust, entering into personal financial arrangements with clients and asking them to transfer money directly to him rather than to company accounts, allegedly for “more effective investing.” These funds were instead used for his personal needs, including debt repayment. The company claimed the actions were taken independently, without management’s knowledge. Based on this, Svetov was dismissed in August 2024 “under discrediting circumstances,” and materials were submitted to law enforcement for possible criminal prosecution. However, as KazTAG later learned on April 3, this version of events might have been circulated by Freedom Finance itself — to create an illusion of an internal investigation for regulatory reporting purposes.
On March 17, KazTAG’s editorial office reached out to the press service of Freedom Finance for comment on the matter, but no response has been received to date.
However, on March 26, the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) responded to the editorial inquiry, confirming that, based on investor complaints about fraud by top managers, an inspection had been launched against Freedom Finance.
Freedom Finance is part of Freedom Holding Corp., whose main shareholder is businessman of Russian origin Timur Turlov. Notably, the company’s refusal to respond to inquiries on sensitive issues has become a recurring pattern.
On April 3, attorney Svetlana Oralbayeva stated that dozens of people were recognized as victims in two criminal cases involving fraud within Freedom Holding Corp. The full video was published by KazTAG. According to victims, investor funds were transferred directly to top managers of Freedom Finance. The lawyer emphasized that the scams within Freedom could not have occurred without Turlov’s knowledge. Victims also accused Freedom’s top management of offshore money laundering and operating a financial pyramid. It also emerged that one of the investors who trusted top manager Vitaliy Svetov ultimately lost his money and committed suicide in Petropavlovsk. (KazTAG learned on April 11 that the criminal case over the suicide was closed on January 8 — just three days after a case against Svetov was opened.) Svetov has been in custody since January 23.
Another top manager of Freedom Finance has also become a suspect — Temirlan Bekov, head of the division for investor and employee training at Freedom Finance in Uzbekistan. His case is being handled by the Department of Economic Investigations (DER) in Astana. Victims have expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of these investigations. The victims’ lawyer compared Turlov to Sergey Mavrodi, the infamous creator of the MMM Ponzi scheme, accusing him of transferring investors’ funds from Kazakhstan to offshore accounts. Following these publications, KazTAG received a threat on April 4.
That same day, 84-year-old North Kazakhstan resident Aida Lukyanova, speaking on behalf of pensioners, appealed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, urging him to stop Turlov’s activities in Kazakhstan.
On May 28, Majilis deputy Aidos Sarym expressed concern over the fraud cases involving Freedom Finance top management, stating that he would not want the government to “bail out this financial institution.” He also noted the company’s lack of transparency.
On April 9, KazTAG reported another criminal case linked to Freedom Finance — regarding the issuance of personal identification numbers (IINs) to Russian citizens. On April 12, KazTAG reported that police had launched an investigation in connection with that case.
On April 10, at a press conference in Astana, victims of Freedom Finance’s top managers refuted Turlov’s false claims that the victims’ children had supposedly lost their parents’ money on the stock market or tried to “bribe” his employees. Notably, representatives of the Presidential Administration, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Financial Monitoring Agency, and the ARDFM — all invited to the event — did not attend. At the same press conference, Petropavlovsk resident Aida Lukyanova said that Freedom Finance top manager Vitaliy Svetov had taken her money under the pretext of a “Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) audit.”
On May 22, Zhanna Kapparova, speaking at Kazakhstan’s first socio-political forum “Victims of the Old Kazakhstan” on behalf of her mother Karlygash Kapparova and Freedom Finance investors, appealed to President Tokayev and the government to launch a full investigation into the company. She stated that her mother’s money, entrusted to Freedom Finance top management and later lost, “never even came close to the American stock market.”
On August 23, 2024, KazTAG, citing a source, reported that investigative actions were being conducted in the Freedom Broker office in Almaty in connection with a case involving Kazakhtelecom and Kcell shares.
On April 19, 2025, a KazTAG source reported that on April 18, a search was conducted at the Akashi Data Center PLC office in Abu Dhabi Plaza, Astana. The operation was part of a criminal investigation into large-scale financial fraud. Investigators examined financial and corporate documents related to the firm’s activities. Law enforcement agencies officially confirmed the information, specifying that the case is being handled by the Baykonyr District Police Department of Astana.
On April 23, 2025, KazTAG reported that following the Akashi Data Center PLC searches, sources revealed another criminal case — this time over large-scale fraud by a former employee of a construction subcontractor connected to the data center project, one of whose ultimate beneficiaries is businessman of Russian origin Timur Turlov. The case involves VestaStroyService LLP. The Akashi Data Center PLC website lists VestaStroyService as the project’s general contractor. According to the Kazakh business registry Kompra, the company’s founder and head is Stanislav Vasilyev, while a former founder, Infrastructure of Kazakhstan LLP, listed Stanislav Mashagin — the current head of Akashi Data Center — as its founder. On May 14, the new criminal case, investigated by the Nurinsky District Police Department of Astana, was officially confirmed.
Stas Mashagin, listed as the director on the Akashi Data Center PLC website, is a business partner of Timur Turlov. He has already been mentioned in previous KazTAG reports.
On March 13, 2024, KazTAG reported that the Russian state corporation Deposit Insurance Agency (ASV) sought to recover damages from Turlov for the withdrawal of assets from Russia. Later, Turlov expressed “surprise” over the Russian agency’s claims, using the word “allegedly” when referring to the ASV’s published information.
On March 18, it became known that Turlov’s assets were seized in a case related to the transfer of funds out of Russia. Then, on March 20, journalist Mikhail Kozachkov reported that Volga Capital shareholder Stanislav Mashagin — suspected of embezzlement at Association Bank, from which assets were also allegedly withdrawn to the benefit of Turlov — is jointly implementing a project with Turlov in Kazakhstan.
Earlier, on February 9, 2024, KazTAG reported that Turlov requested funding from the Development Bank of Kazakhstan for a data center project — specifically Akashi Data Center PLC. At that time, the company’s listed beneficiaries were: Timur Ruslanovich Turlov, Olga Sergeyevna Baskakova, Stanislav Olegovich Mashagin, and Aleksey Igorevich Burnashev. It was noted that documentation collection for the project was underway.
KazTAG has repeatedly reported possible involvement of Freedom officials in fraudulent schemes.
In September 2023, KazTAG reported that a man resembling Freedom Holding Corp. president Askar Tashtitov appeared in a video alongside a man identified by those who shared the clip as Olzhas Ashykbayev, who had been convicted in a $22 million fraud case. According to some reports, the money was earned through the discovery of certain “bypass schemes” of FFIN Brokerage Services, but Ashykbayev was accused of fraud and imprisoned after the funds were seized. Notably, Tashtitov himself confirmed during court proceedings that he met with Ashykbayev, who testified that the Freedom Holding Corp. head had offered him $200,000 in connection with the case.
Later, KazTAG reported that two U.S. government agencies launched investigations into Kazakhstan’s Freedom Holding. In spring 2024, it became known that the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) refused to approve Tashtitov’s candidacy, citing unresolved compliance issues. On April 2, KazTAG reported that the ARDFM also rejected the appointment of Farhat Sarsekeyev as managing director of Freedom Finance Bank Kazakhstan.
On May 21, 2025, journalist Mikhail Kozachkov reported that Freedom Bank clients began receiving so-called “letters of happiness,” stating that the bank planned to withdraw their funds due to a supposed “technical error.” According to the journalist, the bank claimed that the transactions had “not passed through the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE),” and therefore would be canceled, with all profits confiscated. Kozachkov shared a copy of the letter signed by A.Zh. Zhetpisbay, director of the Kyzylorda branch of Freedom Bank Kazakhstan.
Journalists contacted KASE’s press service for comment, as well as Freedom Bank Kazakhstan (controlled by Timur Turlov) and Turlov personally via his Threads page. KASE responded within hours, denying any involvement in the “letters of happiness,” while, as usual, no response was received from Turlov or his press service.
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