Short Seller Who Targeted Freedom Holding Faces Up to 25 Years in Prison for Fraud

Andrew Left, head of short-selling firm Citron Research, is facing a lengthy prison sentence for securities fraud. In 2023, Citron and Hindenburg Research targeted Freedom Holding Corp. with reports containing allegations against the company. Subsequent reviews conducted by auditor Deloitte and independent legal firms Forensic Risk Alliance and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP concluded that the allegations were unfounded and that Freedom Holding Corp. operates in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

In addition to Freedom Holding Corp., Citron targeted shares of some of America’s largest companies, including Tesla and NVIDIA. Left himself has never denied being a short seller who profits from declines in stock prices. In 2023, Citron accused Freedom Holding Corp. of market manipulation and sanctions-compliance violations. Freedom founder and CEO Timur Turlov publicly rejected those claims.

In June 2026, Reuters reported that a U.S. jury found Left guilty of securities fraud. Criminal proceedings against him began in 2024, when U.S. authorities alleged that he manipulated the stock market and misled investors. Left denied the charges.

In June 2026, the jury convicted him of participating in a securities fraud scheme as well as 12 of 16 additional counts related to specific trades. He was acquitted on four other counts, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Left now faces up to 25 years in prison on the principal securities fraud charge and up to 20 years on each of the additional counts. Sentencing is scheduled for August 31, 2026.

Alongside Citron, Freedom Holding Corp. was also targeted in 2023 by another prominent short-selling firm, Hindenburg Research. Like Citron, Hindenburg stood to profit from a decline in the company’s share price.

On August 15, 2023, Hindenburg Research published a report accusing Freedom Holding Corp. of sanctions evasion, alleging that Timur Turlov maintained control over the Russian entities Tsifra Bank and Tsifra Broker, and claiming that the company engaged in market manipulation and misrepresented information in its financial reporting.

However, Hindenburg failed to drive the stock down for long. Within days of the attack, Freedom Holding shares had risen approximately 15% from their post-report lows. Market observers described the episode as a short squeeze: investors who had opened short positions expecting further declines were forced to buy back shares to close those positions, resulting in losses.

Several factors contributed to this outcome. First, Hindenburg was already widely known as a short-selling firm that profits from falling stock prices, causing many investors to view its report with caution. Second, Freedom Holding Corp. and its founder Timur Turlov responded immediately, publicly disputing the allegations.

Turlov emphasized that following the sale of the group’s Russian assets in 2022, Freedom became fully separated from any business operations in Russia and does not serve sanctioned individuals or entities. Freedom Holding Corp.’s auditor, Deloitte, confirmed the company’s compliance with sanctions requirements across all jurisdictions in which it operates.

In 2024, an independent review conducted by Forensic Risk Alliance and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP concluded that the allegations against the holding company lacked merit. The review confirmed that Freedom maintained the necessary compliance controls and oversight procedures throughout its operations.

The investigation also found that the company had effective sanctions-compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) systems in place, supporting previous statements made by both Timur Turlov and Deloitte. The findings were published on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Hindenburg Research shut down in January 2025. Some media outlets have speculated that the firm’s closure may have been motivated by concerns about potential regulatory or legal scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Freedom Holding Corp. continued to expand its business and improve both financial and operational performance following the short-seller attacks. According to its fiscal year 2024 results (covering April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024), revenue totaled $1.64 billion. Three years later, that figure had increased to $2.19 billion. Total assets grew from $8.3 billion in fiscal year 2024 to $13.6 billion in fiscal year 2026.

The company’s customer base has also expanded significantly. In 2023, Freedom’s banking business served approximately 903,500 clients, while the brokerage segment had around 530,000 accounts. Today, the banking segment serves more than 5 million customers, while the brokerage business has grown to approximately 858,000 clients.

In 2024, the company launched Freedom SuperApp, which became the most downloaded application in Kazakhstan by 2025. The platform integrates a wide range of services across Freedom’s digital ecosystem and currently serves more than 5 million users.

Three years after the short-seller attacks, Freedom Holding Corp. has evolved into a fully integrated digital ecosystem operating in more than 20 countries and spanning over 30 business lines, including banking, brokerage services, insurance, lifestyle products, healthcare services, and telecommunications.