Status: Reader-reported + researched · 2 July 2026. This page exists mainly so that anyone searching a popular EU broker finds the full counterparty picture in one place — including this registry’s warning.
What it is
Freedom24 is the EU-facing retail broker of Freedom Holding Corp — the Nasdaq-listed (FRHC), Kazakhstan-rooted group controlled by Timur Turlov. The operating entity is Freedom Finance Europe Ltd, Limassol, CySEC CIF 275/15, with offices in ten EU countries. It advertises 20+ exchanges — the US, UK, the major continental venues (Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Vienna, Athens), Hong Kong, and its home group’s Kazakhstan lines (KASE and AIX) — plus derivatives and a high-interest cash product that draws many of its EU customers. One absence worth knowing: despite the Cyprus domicile, the Cyprus Stock Exchange isn’t on its confirmed list (EXANTE is the CSE route). The registry already profiles two sibling arms first-hand — Freedom Finance Kazakhstan / Freedom Broker (freedombroker.kz, the local arm where KZ custody sits) and Freedom Finance Uzbekistan — siblings under the same parent, not subsidiaries of Freedom24. This page completes the family.
The warning that applies to this entity
The registry’s Freedom24 (Kazakhstan) warning names this exact entity — “Freedom24, by Freedom Finance Europe.” A foreign investor (a career banker, in a detailed public Trustpilot account) opened Freedom24 specifically to buy Kazakhstan-listed shares: funding was effortless; withdrawal was met with escalating documentation demands — proof-of-funds rejected despite showing the actual funding card statement, then salary certificates, inheritance documents, and finally proof of what he intended to do with his own money — until he concluded the funds were effectively trapped. For Kazakhstan access through Freedom24, the registry’s stance is avoid; the Kazakhstan page lists better routes.
The allegations around the parent — what’s substantiated
Since the “siphoning client funds” rumours circulate widely, here is the actual record:
- Hindenburg Research (August 2023) — the short-seller (which profits from a falling price) alleged Freedom Holding “brazenly skirts sanctions, shows hallmark signs of fake revenue, commingles customer funds then gambles assets in highly levered, illiquid, risky market bets.” This is the source of the siphoning/commingling rumours.
- The company’s response (January 2024) — an external review commissioned by Freedom Holding itself concluded the allegations were “not supported by evidence,” while acknowledging that non-US subsidiaries had dealings with certain sanctioned banks and individuals which it said involved no material sanctions violations. Weigh who commissioned it.
- US investigations (reported October 2023, still open) — CNBC reported SEC (Boston) and DOJ (Massachusetts) probes. Per FRHC’s own 2026 filings, the SEC investigation — concerning settlement practices, relationships with institutional market-maker customers of non-US subsidiaries, and the internalization of trades in US securities — remains unresolved, with Wells notices received (the SEC is considering enforcement action). No charges, no exoneration: open.
- CySEC settled with Freedom Finance for EUR 50,000 over potential AML non-compliance.
So: no regulator has established that client funds were misappropriated — but a major short-seller alleged commingling, the company’s rebuttal was self-commissioned, a US enforcement process is live and unresolved, and this registry documents one first-hand case where a client’s withdrawal was obstructed until he gave up. That cluster is exactly what the counterparty-risk page says to price in — and it is why this page carries a warning, not just a caution.
Who can open an account
EU/EEA residents, through the Cyprus entity, with standard EU KYC; Investor Compensation Fund coverage runs to EUR 20,000 (small against a typical portfolio). Not a route for US persons.
Use it / skip it
Skip it for Kazakhstan-listed lines — that’s the warning case. For ordinary US/EU dealing or the interest product, understand what you’re carrying: an unresolved SEC Wells process at the parent and a documented withdrawal-obstruction case at this entity. IBKR, DEGIRO or Trading 212 do the same developed-market job with less counterparty noise.
Verdict
A large, EU-regulated retail broker whose problem isn’t reach or price — it’s the accumulated counterparty picture: short-seller commingling allegations answered only by a self-commissioned review, a live SEC enforcement process, an AML settlement, and a first-hand withdrawal-obstruction case on this very entity. The registry’s rule is that getting money out is the whole game. Warning.
Sources
Reader-reported: the Kazakhstan-access withdrawal case — see the warning page and its Trustpilot source.
Public sources checked (July 2026):
- CySEC registry — Freedom Finance Europe Ltd, CIF 275/15: https://www.cysec.gov.cy/en-GB/entities/investment-firms/cypriot/73116/
- Hindenburg Research, “Freedom Holding Corp” (Aug 2023): https://hindenburgresearch.com/freedom/
- Freedom Holding Corp — external-review completion release (Jan 2024); FRHC 2026 SEC filings (Wells notices; investigation scope and status)
- CNBC (Oct 2023) — SEC/DOJ investigations; Finance Magnates — CySEC EUR 50k AML settlement
- Freedom24 product/markets pages: https://freedom24.com