Lawyers for Freedom Holding Corp. have begun reviewing an administrative lawsuit filed by the Russian Federation's Prosecutor General's Office, the holding's press service said, according to infohub.kz.
"We do not conduct business or hold assets in the territory of the Russian Federation. We are studying this case and reviewing the materials. We are baffled," the Freedom Holding press service said.
According to the files of Moscow's Tverskoy District Court, the administrative claim was registered on September 24 of this year. The plaintiff is the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. The substance of the claim has not been disclosed.
The administrative defendants are W-Empirical Holding Corp., Freedom Holding Corp. and Freedom Finance Europe Ltd. Individuals Timur Turlov and A.S. Shchukin are also named as defendants. Preparations for the hearing have been completed, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 15, 2026.
W-Empirical Holding Corp. was mentioned in the media in April 2025. At that time, it was reported that Moscow's Tverskoy District Court handed investor Sergei Kuleshev a three-year suspended sentence in a case involving the manipulation of the value of foreign shares. According to investigators, he and an accomplice misled the trading robot of financial company W-Empirical Holding Corp. The court also granted a civil claim by W-Empirical Holding Corp. and ordered Kuleshev to pay nearly 162 million rubles. That sum corresponds to the income he and his accomplice received from fictitious trades. To secure repayment of the debt, Kuleshev's real estate and all his accounts were seized.
In October 2022, Kursiv reported that Freedom Holding had sold investment company Freedom Finance and Bank Freedom Finance LLC to Maxim Povalishin, former deputy general director and board member of investment company Freedom Finance. The holding exited its Russian assets.
Freedom Holding CEO Timur Turlov said in 2022 that he saw no way to keep the Russian business within the U.S. holding because of a ban on any investment in Russia by U.S. residents.
Freedom Holding Corp. is an international financial group registered in the U.S. state of Nevada. Kazakhstan remains the group's main market, and its headquarters are in Almaty. The holding develops brokerage, banking, insurance and payment businesses, as well as telecommunications, media and other digital services. Freedom Holding Corp. shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker FRHC, as well as on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and the Astana International Exchange (AIX).