Freedom Finance Ukraine - a pyramid scheme that has been sponsoring Russian murderers for years

There have been rumors for a long time that the investment company Freedom Finance Ukraine is in fact a very suspicious financial institution, involved not only in scams, but also in financing the "DPR" and "LPR". There have also been rumors for a long time that Russian special services are involved in the activities of Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC.

Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC itself, naturally, denied all of this. However, after February 24, many things fell into place. As Censor.Net reported in June, “Freedom Holding, which announced its decision to withdraw Russian assets from the group’s structure just over two weeks ago, has refused to implement the announced exit scheme.” Simply put, the structural division of Freedom Holding, registered in Ukraine as Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC, continues to participate in sponsoring Russia in this war against our country.

This conclusion is supported by materials from the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, where several decisions are registered within the framework of the investigation of criminal proceedings No. 22022000000000089 under Part 4 of Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code (Financing of actions committed with the aim of violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power, change of the borders of the territory or state border of Ukraine). The case against Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC was opened by the SBU on March 12, 2022.

"The pre-trial investigation established that unidentified persons controlling the activities of Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC (EDRPOU code 21654295) and employees of banking institutions associated with them, in the period from 2019 to 2022, using a number of banking institutions, finance illegal actions, in especially large amounts, with the aim of violent change, overthrow of the constitutional order, seizure of state power in Ukraine. Part of the illegally obtained funds can be used to finance the activities of pro-Russian structures and terrorist organizations of the so-called NPF "DPR/LPR", the provision of illegal financial services to legal entities within the orbit of influence of the Russian Federation, through a number of controlled offshore companies by using government bonds of Ukraine":

Based on this, in April the court seized the accounts of Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC, through which, according to the SSU, “unidentified persons in the period 2019-2022, using a number of banking institutions, introduced an illegal mechanism in the capital markets of Ukraine, which consists of assisting business structures of the Russian Federation, which is an aggressor country for Ukraine, to concentrate significant packages of Ukrainian government bonds in the amount of about 300 million hryvnia and, with their help, to finance activities aimed at the detriment of state security.”

However, on June 22, the court lifted the freeze on the company’s accounts, although the criminal case itself remains open and is being actively investigated:

It is still unknown how the case will end, and it is difficult to predict anything given the “spy scandal” that, like a growing coma, is engulfing ever wider layers of the top leadership of the Ukrainian special services.

However, this does not prevent one from inquiring about what Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC is. According to the statement of the financial structure itself, “Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC is an investment company, a licensed participant in the Ukrainian stock exchange, and an expert in the field of securities. Since 1999, it has been conducting brokerage activities in Ukraine, and since 2017, as part of the international investment association Freedom Holding Cor. The holding provides access to global stock markets. In 2019, Freedom Finance Ukraine entered the TOP-5 brokerage companies on the Ukrainian stock exchange.”

The nominal owners of Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC are Kazakh citizen Askar Tashtitov and Freedom Holding Corp, Nevada, USA:

This is by the way about the "unidentified persons" who figure in the criminal case. What is there to "identify" here is unclear: the ultimate beneficiary of Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC, which is accused of sponsoring a terrorist state, is Oskar Tashtitov. This is reflected in all registers.

The director, that is, the person making decisions, including about the movement of money in the accounts, so graciously unblocked by the judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of the city of Kyiv, Shchebunyaeva L.L., is Bartoshek Maryna.

It is unclear what is being “established” here. If there are quite understandable problems with the beneficiary Tashtitov – he is in Kazakhstan, then Maryna Bartoshek is a citizen of Ukraine. It is difficult to understand what problems the SSU has encountered in connection with her interrogation.

Will there be questions for Judge Shchebunyaeva about what she was guided by when she unblocked the accounts of the company that transferred 300 million hryvnia to Russian murderers? That is also a question, forgive the pun.

Returning to Freedom Finance and "unidentified persons", it can be assumed that the SSU is referring to the fact that Askar Tashtitov is a "front man", and the real beneficiary is someone else. Indeed, such a version exists.
The real beneficiary of Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC in particular and Freedom Holding Corp. in general is another citizen of Kazakhstan (he received this citizenship quite recently, having renounced his citizenship of Russia and the islands of Saint Kitts and Neville) – Tymur Turlov:

However, last year Turlov allegedly sold his shares in Freedom Holding Corp to Tashtitov. Whether this is true is a moot point, and many disagree. And not because such a deal did not take place, but because they doubt that Tymur Turlov was in fact the original beneficiary of the Freedom Holding pyramid.

Yes, we are not mistaken - many call Freedom Holding a pyramid. And they give their arguments, recalling how, in fact, it all began. Because it all began in Moscow, with a bank called Freedom Finance, which was registered as a limited liability company Bank "Freedom Finance" (OOO "FFIN Bank") at the address Moscow, Karetny Ryad Street, Building 5/10, Building 2.

As can be seen from the ownership structure, Turlov controlled his bank through a shell company, Freedom Holding Corp., registered in Belize:

Yes, and there are no mistakes here - Freedom Holding Corp, now registered in the USA, was initially registered in Belize. It was later, when money appeared, that it was changed to a more solid place of registration.

By the way, pay attention to the position of the current “beneficiary” of Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC:

The story is old and extremely interesting, but the point is that the investigators who studied Freedom Holding came to the conclusion: Timur Turlov is a figurehead chairman.

Among the real beneficiaries, the name of the former head of PJSC Rossetti, Pavel Livinskyi, was mentioned.

Currently, Pavel is the Director of the Energy Department of the Government of the Russian Federation. Livinskyi, being a hereditary corrupt official and a wallet of several oligarchs, managed to earn more than half a billion dollars on black mining. In fact, Pavel Livinskyi managed to set up mining at all facilities of PJSC Rossetti with state-owned electricity. For a country like Russia, this is an incredible capacity. But the money had to be somehow withdrawn and hidden somewhere. And here Timur Turlov’s bank Freedom Finance, securely hidden in a Belize offshore, came in handy. How and on what terms Turlov and Livinskyi agreed is unknown. And whether Livinskyi is really the true owner of Turlov’s enterprises is also unknown.

Also among those who may be involved in the emergence of Freedom Finance is the scandalous Russian businessman Vladimir Nefedov, who was the largest shareholder of one of the oldest Russian brokers, Zurich Capital Management. Freedom Holding bought it in the summer of 2020.

Whether this is true or not has not yet been fully clarified. But all materials concerning Turlov’s connections with these people are in the public domain. Also in the public domain are investigations showing that money from Kazakhstani and Russian top corrupt officials was withdrawn through Freedom Holding.

And here the question arises as to who gave Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC permission to operate in the financial market of Ukraine and issued the corresponding licenses:

Is it really true that people vested with such powers do not know how to use open register data? Moreover, they have access to closed information. What, no one saw that the company is very "shady", that its roots lead to Russia?

Now, of course, everyone will distance themselves and make denials, but the fact remains – Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC is involved (and this is at least) in financing the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014.

Well, let’s wait for the results of the investigation. But not the one conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine, which has long been cynically called a "branch of the FSB". But the one conducted by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

True, judging by the latest statements of the Ukrainian leadership regarding another investigation conducted in the USA, it is unlikely to be perceived adequately by our authorities. And Freedom Finance Ukraine LLC will continue to pump money out of naive Ukrainians, with which Russia will buy missiles that fly onto the heads of these same Ukrainians.