Timur Turlov: the enigmatic personality

Timur Turlov: the enigmatic personality

Timur Turlov, once a billionaire in Russia, is now among the richest in Kazakhstan following his relocation. Despite this, major fraud lawsuits against him remain active in Russia, with similar legal actions expected in his new country.

The folk saying says you can’t escape yourself, but the 38-year-old founder of Freedom from Lobnya near Moscow thoroughly prepared his move—first settling his large family of six children, then transferring his diverse business to Almaty.

But he barely had time to settle properly in Kazakhstan when scandals began, apparently, he transferred the business "carbon copy" from Moscow to Almaty. It was that very year, 2022, when the SVO began. By that time, Timur Turlov had acquired a passport of a citizen of Kazakhstan. And since Kazakhstan does not allow dual citizenship, Mr. Turlov had to renounce Russian citizenship. But he still had a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis in reserve (a tiny state in the northern part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea). 

And Turlov immediately announced that he wanted to open a bank in Kyiv, since he had severed all ties with Russia. But he was rebuffed. And then he focused on developing business projects in Kazakhstan, which he had been cultivating, as it turned out, since 2006. But even here, there were big surprises.

In Turlov’s offshore

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And so, Mr. Turlov barely had time to flee beyond the borders of his homeland when the homeland sent a "poisonous" arrow after the fugitive: the Arbitration Court of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region seized the property of Timur Turlov and other persons as part of a lawsuit by the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA). And the lawsuit itself was related to the bankruptcy of the "Association" bank.

49% in LLC "Marine Operation Services", which belongs to Mr. Turlov, were seized. The value of these assets is estimated at €18.9 million and $2 million.

The lawsuit - more specifically - is related to a dispute over the withdrawal of assets from the "Association" bank (the bank is located in Nizhniy Novgorod).

Timur Turlov

In general, the Arbitration Court of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region is considering 4 separate disputes on DIA’s applications for recovery of damages from a number of persons due to the withdrawal of assets from the "Association" bank: a criminal case has been initiated on the fact of theft of financial funds from the credit organization. The Bank of Russia revoked the license from the Association bank back in 2019 because its reporting lacked a currency balance in VTB Europe Bank for more than  3.8 billion rubles. This was more than twice the amount of the bank’s own funds.

The DIA previously noted: loss-making currency operations for the bank were carried out in favor of Cypriot offshore companies associated with Timur Turlov. But Mr. Turlov made a surprised face. And denied his involvement with the bank. Turlov claimed that he was not affiliated with the "Association" bank: Freedom Holding called all accusations absurd. He even explained that back in 2022 he renounced Russian citizenship. Freedom Holding sold its Russian assets in 2023.

But, despite these confused explanations, the DIA continues to seek recovery, and the criminal case on the fact of theft of financial funds from the "Association" bank remains at the preliminary investigation stage for now.

"Association" Bank, Nizhniy Novgorod

The Appellate Court upheld the seizure of Turlov’s property in the "Association" bank case.

But when will the actual seizure of property happen, since the client is now hiding behind the passport of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan?

Dream of a bank in the European Union

But Mr. Turlov still plans to open a bank in Ukraine. But both Turlov himself and the brokerage company are under Ukrainian sanctions. The restrictions were imposed for 5 years, the license is suspended. Timur Turlov reported that he has already submitted documents for exclusion from the sanctions list.

Turlov told about this in an interview with Bloomberg.

The National Bank of Ukraine told Bloomberg that it is ready to do business with foreigners who have an impeccable reputation. But Mr. Turlov clearly has a tarnished reputation.

Turlov stated that he also dreams of buying a bank in the European Union.

What else does the scandalous Mr. own today? Turlov has a stake in Chocofamily Holding Ltd.

In 2019, he invested 200 million tenge in Arbuz Group. 

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ba.prg.kz

And soon became a founder of the company.

The assets also include: RIFOR Group - an online boutique of premium and luxury brands called Hommes, LLC Freedom Drive - an online store of car tires and wheels, LLP "Mobile Digital Technologies" - online store "Smartlet" - "Smartphones on credit in three minutes", microfinance organization "Smartlet Finance", LLP "Mobile World Digital" and others.

Mr. Turlov has 107 stores operating in 30 cities of Kazakhstan.

He also owns a stake in LLP Capital Leasing Group: this is a company providing financial leasing services for cars, agricultural, road construction, cargo equipment and buses.

clgroup.kz

He also owns the production company "Semey Cement Plant". LLP Semey Minerals is engaged in sand mining at the Kultobe deposit.

LLP Semey Mall is building a shopping and entertainment center, LLP "Semey Trans Service" is engaged in railway operation, cargo transportation, real estate management and sanatorium-resort activities.

 In May 2024, Turlov Private Holding acquired 60% of the shares of Sky Service: the company manages the Sary-Arka airport in Karaganda.

Sary-Arka Airport, Karaganda

Through his firm Turlov Private Holding, Timur Turlov controls companies engaged in mining copper, rare and precious metals.

And he owns LLP Central Asia Gold Corp. and LLP Central Asia Gold Production, which operate at the Kogadyrs mine in the Zhambyl region.

A large and diverse business, however.

Financial "Pyramids" of billionaire Turlov

But, as they say, troubles come in crowds…

So, Mr. Turlov received a blue (or is it still light blue?) Kazakh passport and began to buy up a number of assets - banks and brokerage companies with licenses, MFIs, media, online stores, and more.

And Mr. Turlov barely had time to shake off the scandal with the "Association" bank, when a huge scandal erupted in Kazakhstan, in his new, so to speak, homeland!

Investors accused Freedom Finance of fraud. And demanded an investigation…

Passport of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan

This scandal happened at the end of May of this, 2025 year.

But there were others, less large-scale, so for now, let’s focus on the high-profile May story. 

Local investors accused the top management of Freedom Finance of schemes to withdraw funds.

At the center of the scandal is the offshore "daughter" FFIN Brokerage Services Inc.: this firm is registered in Belize. 

www.gfinco.com

Dozens of clients claim: they were persuaded to invest through FFIN Brokerage in a structure that does not have a Kazakh license and is outside the jurisdiction.

Contracts were signed in Freedom Finance offices, executed on behalf of FFIN.

And tens of millions of tenge ended up going - in the end - who knows where.

cbonds.ru

As it turned out, department director Vitaliy Svetovoy transferred money to personal accounts and to the accounts of other Freedom top managers.

We are talking about amounts over 150 million tenge withdrawn to the accounts of 9 company executives. 

Vitaliy Svetovoy

The names Sultanov, Lukyanov, Ramazanov and others are mentioned. These accounts were opened in the bank’s branch in the city of Uralsk.

Today, in Turlov’s company, they claim that Vitaliy Svetovoy was not a top manager, but worked as a simple clerk in the sales department. And allegedly Svetovoy acted independently, offered investments with interest, forged screenshots, and spent the money on bets in betting shops.

Vitaliy Svetovoy has been arrested: he is in a pre-trial detention center in Petropavlovsk.

Because of this whole terrible story, 43-year-old Petropavlovsk resident Rustam Kasymov, who lost a large sum due to the fraudulent actions of Turlov’s company top managers, committed suicide.

But could a multi-million scam of such scale really be organized without the knowledge of the company founder Timur Turlov?

At the political forum "Victims of Old Kazakhstan" in Almaty, Zhanna Kapparova, speaking on behalf of her mother Karlygash Kapparova, who also invested large sums into the accounts of Turlov’s top managers, appealed to the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. 

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

And demanded an audit of the financial activities of Freedom Finance and affiliated companies, holding the participants of the schemes for withdrawing millions to offshore accountable, as well as creating a public list of financial pyramids. And returning the money to depositors.

The money that Karlygash Kapparova entrusted to Freedom Finance didn’t even smell - as it was stated from the rostrum - the American stock market. This is a deliberate deception scheme on the part of the company’s management.

The victims, by the way, provided a copy of the response from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to their inquiry, which states that the company "Freedom Finance" is not registered with either the SEC or the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Then, an official statement appeared on the website of JSC "Freedom Finance". It says that the company itself suffered no less from its unscrupulous employees, as significant damage was done to its reputation. 

JSC "Freedom Finance"

The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) of Kazakhstan is conducting an inspection of "Freedom Finance".

Market manipulations?

Another high-profile scandal happened a bit earlier, in August 2023: the short-seller company Hindenburg Research published an investigation in which it accused the financial holding Freedom Holding and its founder Timur Turlov of bypassing sanctions, market manipulations, and unreliability of financial indicators. 

Billionaire Timur Turlov

Hindenburg Research also accused Freedom Holdings of evading sanctions, and the company’s head Timur Turlov of secretly managing a Russian company.

Then journalists released a series of negative publications about Turlov’s company. Correspondents from Bloomberg and The Foundation for Financial Journalism accused Turlov of sophisticated frauds. And even called Turlov’s holding "the dumbest Kazakh import of the century after Borat".

Turlov considered these attacks as an information attack.

cbonds.ru

Moreover, Turlov’s bank was accused of helping Russians bypass sanctions by selling payment cards. With such a bank card, one can make purchases without problems, which contradicts the sanctions imposed by European countries.

Scam with government bonds

But after Hindenburg Research accused Mr. Turlov’s Freedom Holding of fraud and market manipulation, there appeared a continuation of another dark story.

Details of the scam with Kazakhstan’s government bonds by Mr. Turlov were published in the press.

Ranking of Kazakhstan bond organizers

Hindenburg Research is financial whistle-blowers.

This company looks for signs of fraud, financial manipulations, overstated reporting in business. After investigations, reports are published. And at the same time, bets are made on the fall of these companies’ stocks (short selling). These reports can greatly influence markets. And cause serious damage.

And so, after the publication of the report, Freedom Holding’s shares fell. And an investigation later conducted by Bloomberg revealed that regulators also identified suspicious schemes in Freedom’s activities, for which Freedom was fined in 2023 for manipulations with government bonds. That is, the authorities of Kazakhstan, Bloomberg, and Hindenburg Research confirmed: there were indeed manipulations.

Freedom Holding was accused of artificially inflating prices on government bonds. It’s about manipulations with Kazakhstan’s government bonds denominated in tenge.

Such bonds are issued by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Why are manipulations with government bonds dangerous?

If their price is artificially inflated, then sooner or later they may sharply fall, causing damage to other investors. This undermines trust in the financial market. And there are big risks for the economy.

Why did they do this? The answer is simple: to create an illusion of high liquidity, attract other investors and increase trust in these assets. Increase their profit - sell papers more expensive than they really are worth. Use bonds as collateral for loans: inflated price allows borrowing more.

That’s the scam with government bonds from Mr. Turlov, the newly minted citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Essentially, the final point has not been put on the fraudulent actions of Mr. Turlov regarding the "Association" bank in the Nizhniy Novgorod region. And isn’t that why Mr. Turlov was in such a hurry to leave Russia quickly and get the blue passport of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan?

Doesn’t Mr. Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan, have enough of his own fraudsters?