Bermukanov has no trust: does IBF Trust operate as a pyramid scheme?
Kazakh investor Kairat Bermukanov may be a common fraudster, and his affiliated entities may be operating as a Ponzi scheme. Clients of his organizations are losing money, and the Astana Financial Services Authority has directly accused the businessman of lying.
In the investment world, figures like Kairat Bermukanov attract attention with their ambition and promises of easy wealth. This Kazakh entrepreneur, who positions himself as the president of the hedge fund IBF Trust, claims to manage hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and helps clients grow their wealth. However, behind the glossy photos on banned social media featuring wads of cash and luxury cars, he may be a scam operating on the principles of a Ponzi scheme—completely opaque and unaccountable, but spiced up with clever PR and Bermukanov’s well-developed personal brand.
As a result, gullible clients of Bermukanov and his projects risk not only failing to make a profit but also losing their investments, having believed promises of returns that have little to do with how the investment market operates. This assumption can be made based on an analysis of open sources, reviews of the work of entities associated with Bermukanov, expert opinions, and simple common sense.
In other words, Bermukanov doesn’t look like an investment guru at all, but rather like a common manipulator who wants to profit from human greed. Our correspondent investigated why.Morning News.
Early Years: From a Small Town to a World of Big Money
Kairat Bermukanov was born in the small town of Yasny in Russia’s Orenburg region, to a family of ordinary workers. As he recounts in motivational posts on his social media, his parents worked for 40 years in a factory but were left with nothing. This, he says, was the impetus for his search for "freedom" through investment. In his youth, Bermukanov dreamed of a career as an officer, but life took a different turn. In 2016, he began his career in finance, and in 2018, he earned an MBA in finance and the status of "professional investor." He also became a master of sport in judo, which later contributed to his image as a "disciplined fighter" in the investment business.
Kairat Bermukanov. Photo: https://vklader.ru/wp-content/uploads/440387505_7622889464439435_3652904804732208055_n-5-619x1024.jpg
His first steps in investing involved an IPO (Investment Partnership Operation) project he ran with his wife, Elena Bermukanova, from 2017 to 2020. This was supposedly a partnership program with the Swiss bank Swissquote, offering Forex investments with returns of up to 130% per annum. The minimum deposit was $5,000, and clients were required to sign agreements handing over account management to the IPO. However, even then, serious questions were raised about Bermukanova’s activities.
Swissquote has not officially confirmed the partnership, and the project’s Telegram channel has not been updated since January 2021. No less, if not more alarming, is the fact that in the same year, Swissquote was blacklisted by the Russian Central Bank as having signs of an illegal professional participant in the securities market, which was immediately reported.trumpeted Industry portals. After the 2022 sanctions, working with this broker has become virtually impossible for Russian residents.
Photo: https://www.banki.ru/news/daytheme/?id=10947458
There are still doubts whether the Bermukanovs have "attached" themselves to the Swiss broker’s brand.they claimAccording to online reports, the alleged investor Elena Bermukanova could have been a common scammer. The companies through which she allegedly invested were not only unlicensed, but also unregistered according to the OKVED (All-Russian Classifier of Economic Activities) classification system. Furthermore, Elena’s former employees claim she scammed them out of their wages. What then can her clients expect?
Photo: https://tehnoobzor.com/elena-bermukanova-investor/
Bermukanov then switched to working within Investment Business Family, an "investment club" with closed Telegram channels. There, he promised passive income of up to 84% per annum, still positioning himself as the Swiss bank’s representative in the CIS. The basis for this remains unclear. Currently, the IBF Telegram channel has fewer than 20,000 subscribers, activity is low (5-7%), and comments are closed, making it difficult to assess the audience’s true opinion.
After this, Bermukanov suddenly became a "Forbes expert" and a DBA, but these titles are not independently verified. He doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, and his publications (https://t.me/forbesrussia/87918) on Forbes resources are labeled "information support," meaning they resemble regular paid content. That’s what an "expert" he is.
IBF Trust: A Hedge Fund Promising a Million Dollars
In 2023-2024, Bermukanov announced the creation of a hedge fund, IBF Trust, in Dubai, with a reported capitalization of $303 million. IBF Trust positions itself as an Islamic hedge fund under UAE jurisdiction, specializing in algorithmic trading, derivatives, and risk management. The fund invests in stocks, ETFs, currency arbitrage, cryptocurrencies (DeFi projects), and commercial real estate. The minimum investment is $10,000 for general investments or €100,000 for real estate. The promised return is from 60% per annum, with dividends up to 45% of the real estate. Clients allegedly become co-owners of the assets, with transparent tracking through the IBF Traction system: real-time transactions, asset allocation analysis, and reports.
The IBF website is overflowing with "transparency"—all slogans. Photo: https://ibftrust.com/
The fund emphasizes diversification: stocks, foreign currency, cryptocurrency, and the acquisition and renovation of real estate, which is supposed to provide a "guaranteed" cash flow. However, the IBF website contains no reports on past returns, only promises and "slogans." There is also no information on withdrawals from the fund; the process is unexplained and extremely opaque. In other words, the fund’s website, with assets allegedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars, looks more like a landing page assembled using a construction kit. It looks weak.
In May 2025, IBF Trust received a license from VARA (Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) in Dubai. This allows it to legally operate with crypto assets, including storing, trading, providing custodial services, and consulting. Apparently, the fund does indeed trade crypto (DeFi, arbitrage); without this license, operations in Dubai would be illegal.
Bermukanov undoubtedly needs this license for further expansion in the Middle East and Asia. It fits into his marketing strategy, as a VARA license is a key element of Islamic finance, lending credibility to those in the CIS, where cryptocurrencies are still largely unregulated. Not to mention, a license doesn’t necessarily make a fund transparent or secure. There’s no regulation from reputable agencies like the UK’s FCA or the US SEC. This significantly increases the risks for investors: just remember the FTX exchange, which also held a VARA license but went bankrupt in 2022, costing investors billions in losses.
Bermukanov’s situation with other licenses in the Middle East is less rosy. Recently, the activities of Bermukanov’s entities have become a source of great concern in Kazakhstan: the Astana Financial Services Authority even had tospreada special statement that Bermukanov lied that IBF Trust and a group of firms with the same name received a license from the Saudi Arabian Financial Services Authority.
Photo: https://afsa.aifc.kz/alert-afsa-alerts-the-public-to-the-regulatory-status-of-ibf-consulting-ltd-and-ibf-trust
Why lie if you’re a reputable investor who operates legally and genuinely helps clients make money? The question is rhetorical.
Signs of a financial pyramid
Returning to VARA, this license doesn’t preclude the possibility that Bermukanov’s projects could operate as a Ponzi scheme. In this scheme, existing investors are paid at the expense of new ones, while no real investment occurs. This is hinted at by Bermukanov’s overly rosy outlook. He promises growth of 60-130% per year, which is 5-10 times higher than normal market rates. Secondly, as we’ve already mentioned, IBF Trust lacks even a hint of transparency: there are no audits, transaction details, or independent audit results.
The third sign that suggests IBF is a Ponzi scheme is the emphasis on referrals, much like network marketing, which also doesn’t inspire confidence. Both the IPO and Investment Business Family offered existing participants bonuses for bringing in new clients, which is simply unnecessary if the proposed investment strategies are working and profitable. Money gravitates toward money, but unprofitable businesses are "dragged" by every possible and impossible means.
Photo: https://vklader.ru/wp-content/uploads/440873504_7622889614439420_3912097658562756357_n-6-630x1024.jpg
Another alarming sign: Kairat Bermukanov’s ostentatious display of luxury. He regularly posts photos of expensive cars and stacks of cash on his social media and Telegram channels, without providing any information about the origins or means of obtaining this wealth. Fraudsters in the "infobusiness" world, also known as "info gypsies," operate using similar tactics. Could this be exactly what Bermukanov is up to?
Photo: https://finotzyvy.com/company/swissquote/
And finally, the most important thing: the specific results of the participants. We found numerous stories where clients of Bermukanov-linked entities lost money. In the same IPO, deposits were "blown away" in just 6-18 months. One person invested $5,000, saw it grow to $6,200, but then lost it all. Moreover, he claims that Bermukanov advised him not to withdraw his funds. Another lost $6,600: documents were sent to a fake address in Kaliningrad, the money disappeared, and the client was allegedly to blame for these problems. Doesn’t this sound like a scam?
Photo: https://cryptorussia.ru/kajrat-bermukanov-otzyvy-invest
There are so many such stories that even a single media outlet wouldn’t be able to cover even a few of them in detail. We’ll provide just a few reviews of the work of Bermukanov-related entities—they’re endlessly available on almost every specialized platform that covers this "investor." However, there should be no need for such reviews, given the lack of licenses and the complete lack of transparency surrounding Bermukanov’s activities. What are people signing up for anyway?
Photo: https://cryptorussia.ru/kajrat-bermukanov-otzyvy-invest
However, people like him will always find their clients. That’s just the way the world works. As the late Sergei Mavrodi, a classic example of scamming, said, "A sucker isn’t a mammoth; he won’t die out." With all due respect to those who lost money by believing Kairat Bermukanov’s tall tales.
Author: Maria Sharapova
