Kazakh's fintech Freedom is being investigated by US SEC, DOJ – CNBC

(Reuters) – Freedom Holding, a company based in Kazakhstan, is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) counsel for potential compliance issues, insider stock moves, and its offshore affiliate’s connection to sanctioned individuals, according to a report by CNBC on Friday.

CNBC’s report, which references documents seen by the network and sources familiar with the matter, reveals that the SEC’s Boston regional office has been conducting an investigation into Freedom for several months.

In August, Freedom faced criticism from Hindenburg Research, which claimed that its research had uncovered “hallmark signs of fake revenue” and evidence of market manipulation in both the company’s investments and stock. The report also accused Freedom of deliberately evading sanctions.

Freedom responded to the allegations made in the Hindenburg report, stating that they were without merit.

In addition to the SEC, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts has initiated preliminary inquiries into Freedom, as stated in CNBC’s report.

The SEC declined to comment on the investigation, while Reuters’ requests for comment from both the Department of Justice and Freedom remained unanswered at the time of writing.

Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat reporting from Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli