Freedom Holding Corp. under attack: sanctions against Turlov paralyze the work of the Ukrainian exchange.

Thus,  PJSC Ukrainian Exchange  suspended trading in mid-July of this year 2024 due to the revocation of its license and the legal proceedings initiated in Ukraine, the latter was initiated by the Ukrainian authorities due to the fact that the largest shareholder of the exchange at the end of April 2024 was  Freedom Holding Corp. itself,  with a share  of 24%,  and the owner of  71% of Freedom Holding Corp. shares,  Turlov personally   , is a person against whom personal sanctions of the Ukrainian state have been applied since the fall of 2022. Along with  Turlov , Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC  , one of Turlov’s subsidiaries  ,  which has been operating in the Ukrainian securities market since 2017 ,  is also included in the sanctions list of Ukraine  . The sanctions against the businessman in Ukraine will be in effect for five years, that is, until 2027. PJSC Ukrainian Exchange  previously contacted the majority owner of the investment group,  Freedom Finance LLC IC,  with the "parent company"  Freedom Holding Corp.,  and insisted on the need to donate its share package directly to the Ukrainian authorities in order to avoid a decision by  the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSCMC)  to cancel the license and initiate legal proceedings in Ukraine, but this was not done. Let us recall that  Turlov himself  currently lives in Kazakhstan, with the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,  Turlov  announced his renunciation of Russian citizenship and the sale of Russian business to local management, at the same time he also had to give up the passport of the Caribbean state of Saint Kitts and Nevis, since Kazakhstan does not allow dual citizenship, but it is still not known for certain whether  Turlov did this. At the same time, the trial related to the activities of the Kazakh billionaire of Russian origin  Timur Turlov  is unfolding not only in Ukraine, but also in Russia, where in August of this year, 2024, the Arbitration Court of the Volga-Vyatka District of Russia upheld the decision to seize  Turlov’s  property as part of securing the claim of  the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA)  to recover damages in favor of the bankrupt bank  JSC CB "Association". Let us recall that until the beginning of last year, 2023, the US-registered "parent company"  Freedom Holding Corp.,  of the Kazakh billionaire of Russian origin  Timur Turlov  , included a group of companies in Russia, united under the umbrella brand of the investment group  


LLC IC "Freedom Finance" . However, these Russian assets were then sold to one of the founders of  Freedom Holding Corp.,  Turlov’s subordinate   -  Maxim Povalishin,  after which  Turlov’s Russian assets  continued to function as a separate company  LLC "Tsifra Broker".  At the same time,  LLC "Tsifra Broker",  like  Freedom Holding Corp.,  conducts foreign transactions through offshore jurisdictions such as Belize and Cyprus. Meanwhile,  Turlov  himself concentrated on developing business in Central Asia, as well as in other countries. Currently, the headquarters of  Freedom Holding Corp.  is located in Almaty, and the market capitalization of the company, formally providing brokerage and depository services, is  about 4.4 billion dollars. One of  Turlov’s  patrons in Kazakhstan is considered to be the Kazakh oligarch  Bulat Utemuratov,  associated with the first president of Kazakhstan  Nursultan Nazarbayev . Moreover,  Turlov  was involved in the implementation of a number of socially significant projects that are associated with the family of the former president, in particular, after the arrest and detention of another Kazakhstani oligarch,  Kairat Boranbayev,  it was  Turlov  who took on the financing of the Almaty football club  "Kairat"  and was appointed a member of the executive committee of the Kazakhstan Football Federation, allocated funds for a football tournament in honor of  Nazarbayev’s  late nephew ,  Aisultan Nazarbayev,  the prizes at which were presented personally by  Dariga Nazarbayeva. Considering the fact that at present  Turlov’s main area of activity,  apparently, remains the legalization of funds of the family of the first president of Kazakhstan through the investment group  Freedom Finance LLC  and the "parent company"  Freedom Holding Corp.,  with the help of which the funds of representatives of the political and business elite of the so-called "old Kazakhstan" were or even continue to be withdrawn from Kazakhstan to other foreign jurisdictions, the restrictions that are being introduced with respect to  Turlov  and legal entities affiliated with him in Russia and Ukraine may cause significant financial damage to the entourage of the first president of Kazakhstan.

Let us recall that earlier in Russia an arrest was imposed on Turlov’s
funds and other property  , including a  49% share  in  Marine Operation Services LLC  within 19 million euros  and  2 million dollars,  and  (DIA)  accuses  Turlov  and other co-defendants of participating in the withdrawal of assets from the bank for a total of  34 million euros  and  3.7 million dollars.  A criminal case has been opened on the fact of theft of funds, which is at the preliminary investigation stage.

It is noteworthy that in Kazakhstan, even after the statement of the Russian  (DIA)  on Turlov’s activities   , neither regulatory nor law enforcement agencies have outlined any of their own claims that could be related to the activities of  Freedom Holding Corp.  Only in 2023,  the Kazakh financial regulator tried to check Turlov’s  activities due to possible manipulation in the bond market. As part of the check, the regulator studied transactions that brokers made in the fall of 2022, including brokers of  Freedom Holding Corp.,  in particular, the regulator then became interested in transactions with bonds  of the Kazakhstan Sustainability Fund (KFU), 100%  owned by  the National Bank  of Kazakhstan. In February of the same year,  the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARFM)  of Kazakhstan announced its intention to limit the ability of  Freedom Holding Corp.  to carry out operations that, in the regulator’s opinion, allow  Turlov  to artificially influence the value of Kazakhstan’s government bonds. It was reported that  Turlov  had concentrated on his balance sheet  more than 6% of the outstanding bonds issued by  the Ministry of Finance  of Kazakhstan, which allows him to manipulate Kazakhstan’s local public debt; however, no restrictions were ultimately imposed.