They all look the same. A cozy, less formal suite, elegant shoes and a beard. The beard is essential for any fraudster, Edgar A. Poe once suggested: it lowers people defences. There is something in the beard which says – ‘trust me’. This one, which is in proud possession of Timur Turlov from Freedom Holding corp. is no different, The Unfiltered Lens suggests. Except its owner managed to climb quite high and reach NASDAQ market. It’s one of the few Kazakhstatnis who has gone so far.

 PIN ITFreedom Holding Corp. (FRHC) at finance.yahoo.com

Freedom Holding, the majority of which is controlled by Timur Turlov himself, refuses to follow the common sense. With earnings growth by 93 percent over the past year, minuscule balance sheet and solid track of records Freedom Holding raises some questions. They quickly grow in number as we dive into some of the records.

 PIN ITTimur Turlov’s Zerich bank has been bankrupted and lost the license

The company has a high level of debts. It seems to defy the high volatility of this year. US Capital markets show 13.9 percent return while Freedom Holding manages to supply a whooping 192 percent. The shares are brutally, outstandingly and absurdly overpriced with ratio more than 10x. Based on the other factors the market valuation the fair price for the share is $3.64. Yet it is 42.44 and the growth seems to be exponential. Price to earnings ratio is twice higher than market average which is well above the safe levels. Who in the right state of mind will buy the shares? What are the reasons for any investor to buy shares of a shell company?

Where do investors of Timur Turlov’s company come from?

Every report number screams about the brutal overpricing of the shares. The growth in the share price of Timur Turlov’s company is achieved by growth of debts. Detailed analysis of the company reaffirms our suspicions.

Aren’t we dealing with a Ponzi scheme here?

It’s hard to tell by analysing the Freedom Holding alone. But the very person of Timur Turlov leaves some clues on the surface. Mr. Timur Ruslanovich Turlov has been a Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Holding Corp. (formerly known as BMB Munai, Inc.) since November 2015. He has a history of ownership of bankrupted banks and inhumanely bold PR. On more than one occasion he declared himself ‘the most influential businessman’ which is an outright lie. The media is flooded to the very neck by his PR pieces. His PR expenses are, by our evaluation, far superior to declared CEO compensation he gets.

 PIN ITTimur Turlov and his only chair

Meanwhile, not everyone is happy with Timur Turlov. His compatriots accuse him in creating a Ponzi scheme and attracting the ‘investments’ in Kazakhstan and neighbouring countries. Those voices are heard despite the threats Timur Turlov is generous to dispense to critical journalists.

According to the critics Timur Turlov’s modus operandi is to attract investors by offering more than generous returns. The dividends are paid with new input. The Central Asian republic enjoyed a high inflow of oil cash. Timur Turlov, closely related to the oil oligarchy and Kazakhstan corrupt state apparatus offers a way to legally transfer often ill-gotten money to the West. Timur Turlov is now trying – and quite successful – to offer the services of this sort to sanction-stricken Russia. That’s why FHRC often was exposed in FinCen files. There some capitalists and allegedly sanctioned persons can use Freedom Finance to get their money siphoned out of Russia and safely deposited to the West.

 PIN IT
Except, if we get the things right, their money is far from being safe. There aren’t genius investors there. It’s likely just a reincarnation of Bernie’s favourite scheme.

Disclaimer by The Unfiltered Lens: the author does not own the shares of Freedom Holding and does not earn either from rising or falling of its prices. The article does not endorse any operations with the aforementioned shares and securities of the Freedom Holding.

We too like the disclaimers and join the declaration above. In our humble opinion people have to be really less than reasonable to put their money in muddy waters of Kazakhstan/Russian investment company that is trading on NASDAQ. The seemingly high results of the company are witnessing against the safety of investment. The figure of Timur Turlov himself raises even more concerns.