Russian prosecutors drop lawsuit against Timur Turlov and Freedom Holding
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has withdrawn an administrative lawsuit seeking to forfeit to the state assets belonging to Timur Turlov, FIDE president, founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., as RBC reported, citing documents from the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow.
«On Oct. 14, the court received a motion from Deputy Prosecutor General Tkachev to drop the lawsuit,» the judge announced.
The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow registered the lawsuit on Sept. 24. It was filed by Russia’s deputy prosecutor general, although the specific nature of the claims was not disclosed in the court records. In addition to Turlov, the defendants included W-Empirical Holding Corp., Freedom Holding Corp., Freedom Finance Europe Ltd. and an individual named A. S. Shchukin. A preliminary hearing had been scheduled for Oct. 15.
At the time, Freedom Holding said its legal team was reviewing the case materials and emphasized that the group neither conducts business in Russia nor holds assets there. The company’s press service also expressed bewilderment over the lawsuit.
Freedom Holding exited the Russian market in 2022. The investment firm Freedom Finance and Freedom Finance Bank were sold to Maxim Povalishin, a former top executive at the investment firm. Turlov explained at the time that retaining the Russian business within the U.S.-registered holding company was not feasible because U.S. residents are prohibited from investing in Russia.
W-Empirical Holding Corp. appeared in media reports in April 2025, when the Tverskoy District Court found investor Sergey Kuleshov guilty of manipulating foreign stock prices and handed him a three-year suspended sentence. According to investigators, he and an accomplice misled a trading robot belonging to W-Empirical Holding Corp. The court also ordered Kuleshov to pay the company nearly 162 million rubles as part of its civil claim.
On Sept. 26, Timur Turlov was elected president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) at the FIDE General Assembly in Samarkand, held during the 46th Chess Olympiad. In the second round of voting, he received 110 votes, compared with 85 for German entrepreneur Wadim Rosenstein. Since January 2023, Turlov has also served as president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation.
Turlov’s Freedom Holding Corp. is an international financial group incorporated in Nevada, U.S., and headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan, its primary market. The holding company operates businesses in brokerage, banking, insurance and payments, as well as telecommunications and digital services. The company is listed on Nasdaq (FRHC), KASE and AIX.
