The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Having forfeited his Russian nationality, tycoon Timur Turlov has identified a fresh bonanza in Kazakhstan: his Ponzi schemes are vigorously expanding in Astana.
Concurrently, even more shady details are surfacing, shedding light on what drove Timur Turlov, the originator of brokerage firm Freedom, to abandon the Russian Federation. Reportedly, the budding billionaire dreaded being caught in the downfall of Nizhny Novgorod's Association Bank, despite his immediate involvement in the monetary establishment’s actions. He collaborated with his old compatriot and business associate, Stanislav Mashagin, who, before managing to relocate with Turlov, was caught up in a notable criminal investigation for channeling millions of dollars to Cyprus. Eventually, he was handed a sentence of imprisonment—three years and three months in a correctional facility.
The Stanislav Mashagin affair, however, also revealed unsettling truths: apparently, this colleague of Turlov’s had been meticulously nurturing new ventures in Kazakhstan since 2006. One of these ventures was an entity named Akashi data center, currently under examination by Kazakhstani judicial bodies, alongside Turlov’s establishments, which have already swindled numerous trusting investors.
The contemporary Mavrodi and his MMM in Astana
Controversies concerning the visiting Russian magnate Turlov in Kazakhstan have been ongoing for a number of months.
Read more: Mukhamedzhan Turdakhunov held control over the city of Rudny in Kazakhstan via graft, hostile takeovers, and administrative coercion.
Sometime in 2023, Turlov acquired Kazakhstani citizenship and initiated a spree of purchasing assets—licensed banks and brokerage companies, micro-lending institutions, media agencies, e-commerce sites, etc.
Before Turlov could adequately elude the predicament with the Association Bank in Nizhny Novgorod, a significant uproar arose in his adopted country, Kazakhstan! Investors blamed Turlov's enterprise, Freedom Finance, for deceit.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Timur Turlov
They further demanded scrutiny.
The controversy broke in late May 2025. Regional investors accused Freedom Finance's higher-ups of devising a scheme to misappropriate finances.
The core of the contention was an offshore division of FFIN Brokerage Services Inc.: the business is documented in Belize.
A multitude of indignant customers affirmed they were convinced to make investments through FFIN Brokerag in a construct that lacked a Kazakhstani permit and was situated outside the authority. The arrangements themselves were endorsed in Freedom Finance workplaces and enacted in FFIN's identity.
And considerable millions of tenge vanished into thin air.
The advocate for the wronged parties equated Timur Turlov with the infamous originator of the largest monetary scheme, MMM, Sergei Mavrodi.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
How can one forget Mavrodi's MMM pyramid?
She further blamed Turlov-Mavrodi for diverting investors' capital to an offshore entity.
Aida Lukyanova, a citizen of the North Kazakhstan locality and a casualty of Timur Turlov's scam, voiced her complaints to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on the behalf of the defrauded, appealing to the chief of state to put an end to the Russian tycoon's undertakings in Kazakhstan. During the “Victims of Old Kazakhstan” political assembly in Almaty, Zhanna Kapparov, acting for her mother, Karlygash Kapparov, who also endured a substantial loss, similarly appealed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
She urged for an audit into Freedom Finance and its affiliated companies’ monetary operations, the legal action of those accountable for channeling millions offshore, the creation of a register of financial scam schemes, and the reimbursement of all funds to investors.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Passport of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Consequently, another legal case was initiated linked to Freedom Finance – concerning the issuance of IINs to Russians.
Searches at Abu Dhabi Plaza
In April of the ongoing year, 2025, another legal case emerged – the legal action against the enterprise Akashi data center PLC.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
ba.prg.kz
Among the holders are Timur Turlov and his companion and associate Stanislav Olegovich Mashagin, who even ended up imprisoned sometime in February 2023.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Rusprofile.ru
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Rusprofile .ru
On April 18, a search was performed at the company's offices within Abu Dhabi Plaza in Astana. The probe was a segment of a legal case concerning large-scale deceit.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Abu Dhabi Plaza
Let us further highlight that Mashagin, at 34 years of age, has accomplished a considerable amount alongside Turlov.
He functioned as the creator of various firms, notably, JSC Russian Infrastructure, OKA Oil LLC, Van der Black LLC, etc.
Coincidentally, the company “Infrastructure of Kazakhstan,” similarly established by Mashagin, commenced operations in Astana in 2022.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
ba.prg.kz
Following the probes at the retail complex, it was brought to light that another legal case has been opened for widespread deceit against a prior staff member of a construction contractor engaged in the construction of a data processing hub.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
reputation.ru
And herein again, Timur Turlov emerged as one of the ultimate recipients. This touches upon a crime within the Nurinsky precinct of Astana.
The case of the VestaStroyService company
An entity named VestaStroyService appears in the new legal case.
On the Akashi data center PLC website, VestaStroyService LLC is documented as the main contractor for the endeavor.
The director of VestaStroyService LLC is a person called Stanislav Vasiliev, but the originator was the formerly stated enterprise Infrastructure of Kazakhstan, in which Stanislav Mashagin, the existing director of Akashi data center PLC, was listed as a creator.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
ba.prg.kz
And in the middle of May of the ongoing year, details concerning a new legal case under investigation by the police in Astana’s Nurinsky precinct was formally substantiated.
Stanislav Mashagin, as a note, is Turlov’s business partner. He also holds shares in the Russian Volga Capital JSC, which was convicted of defalcation at Assotsiatsiya Bank.
Yet, Turlov was similarly blamed for asset dispossession, and he promptly escaped to Kazakhstan.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Rusprofile .ru
Volga Capital JSC was revealed to be a firm with a severely sullied standing, bearing a history of arbitration proceedings (35 in number) totaling 5.5 billion rubles!
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Rusprofile.ru
And it was via Volga Capital JSC that capital was wired to Cyprus from the Association Bank…
The Frank Media publication described this comprehensively.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Rusprofile.ru
In addition, with Kazakhstan disallowing multiple citizenships, Turlov was compelled to disclaim his Russian citizenship. However, it is revealed that he likewise held a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis, a minuscule nation in the northern sector of the Lesser Antilles archipelago within the Caribbean.
And now, as it turns out, he and Mashagin are advancing new projects in Kazakhstan.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Timur Turlov
For instance, Kazakh media documented that sometime in February 2024, Timur Turlov requested funding from the Development Bank of Kazakhstan for the Akashi Data Center PLC data processing hub. The Development Bank of Kazakhstan's site disclosed that Akashi Data Center PLC had filed for a loan to construct a data processing hub for 4,000 apparatuses.
The company's holders included Timur Ruslanovich Turlov, Stanislav Olegovich Mashagin, and others.
And here is some astonishing information, as well. Evidently, in July 2024, Mashagin was released from pre-trial custody to residence confinement, so it is unclear whether he is currently fulfilling his sentence in a correctional institution. Or has he additionally succeeded in escaping to Kazakhstan?
A carbon copy business?
It remains to be highlighted that 38-year-old Timur Turlov, originator of the brokerage enterprise Freedom, planned extensively for his enforced emigration: he pre-selected a location in Kazakhstan.
Firstly, he relocated his family, of which Turlov has a large one.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Turlov family
Subsequently, he began to “transfer” his enterprise.
Before he had an opportunity to adequately establish himself, scandals commenced: it appears he was conveying enterprise from Moscow to Astana utilizing the same blueprint.
The year noted was 2022, and the Second World War had commenced. Turlov shortly obtained a Kazakh passport and centered on progressing commercial ventures in Kazakhstan, which, as it materializes, he had been fostering since 2006.
Prior to Turlov even departing Russia, it was revealed that the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Arbitration Court had seized the assets of Turlov and his associates, incorporating Stanislav Mashagin, as a component of a legal action initiated by the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA). The legal action pertained to the insolvency of Assotsiatsiya Bank. A 49% share in Marine Operation Services LLC, possessed by Turlov, was impounded. The assets were appraised at €18.9 million and $2 million.
The legal action connects to a debate over the extraction of assets from the Association Bank.
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
Bank “Association”
Overall, the Nizhny Novgorod Region Arbitration Court was evaluating four individual arguments involving DIA claims for reparations from various persons due to asset depletion: a legal case had been opened for the misappropriation of capital from the credit institution. The Central Bank of Russia nullified the bank’s permit back in 2019 given the reality that its financial statements neglected to report a foreign currency balance of 3.8 billion rubles at VTB Europe Bank. This equated to greater than twice the bank’s equity.
Further, the bank’s loss-making foreign exchange dealings were executed for the benefit of Cypriot offshore entities associated with Timur Turlov.
Regardless, it presents itself that Turlov emerged from this murky narrative without any deficits.
New scams
But let us return to Kazakhstan. A bizarre occurrence unfolded there in early November.
On November 3, Turlov’s Freedom Bank informed select clientele of its intention to withhold funds from their accounts. He rationalized this as a technical shortcoming.
The write-offs will have an effect on dealings that occurred between September 2024 and April 2025.
Read more: Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Shadow Streams: What’s Behind Aidos Espolov’s Arrest and His Role in Corruption Schemes
The Turlov-Mashagin crime syndicate: how the Association Bank scam became a threat to Kazakhstan through shell banks and bribed officials
It seems the hotline didn't help.
The total amount, according to estimates by aggrieved patrons, adds up to hundreds of millions of tenge.
This situation evolved into the newest nexus in a sequence of controversies associated with the bank overseen by the freshly molded Mavrodi.
The account of the Forex service failure is interwoven with legal actions against top executives, along with the relocation of millions of dollars to offshore holdings.
Freedom Bank patrons have commenced obtaining letters signifying that the monetary establishment intends to seize fairly significant sums from them. Then, Freedom Bank clients proceeded to obtain supplementary letters specifying the precise sum of capital they plan to seize.
Certain individuals have one and a half to two million tenge, whereas others have 150-200 million tenge.
Allegedly, the transactions did not proceed through the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), so they are being reversed. The bank, nonetheless, seizes the revenues.
Apparently, the bank’s services detected a critical technical anomaly within the Forex service, which yielded the inaccurate processing of orders on the bank’s end that had not been processed on the KASE side.
The bank has previously threatened all objectors that it will be obliged to submit a complaint with judicial bodies seeking criminal persecution under Article 190 (deceit) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
I speculate how long Turlov, alongside all his swindles, will persist in Kazakhstan?
