His so-called “sect,” Financial Freedom Academy, is attempting to shield itself by invoking the military.
Authorities have finally begun scrutinizing suspicious cryptocurrency market schemes disguised as educational initiatives. Regulators have recently focused on Financial Freedom Academy (the FFA community), whose nominal founder is 26-year-old Oleksandr Orlovskyi.
More details are available on the Antikor portal.
This was reported by Andriy Karpinsky in his article for the CRiME and [High-Profile Cases] projects.
On November 13, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), which operates under the President of Ukraine, added three Financial Freedom Academy “branches” — FFA Crypto, FFA Crypto RISE, and FFA Crypto Capitalist — to its list of questionable investment projects.
The following day, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a warning about the risks of engaging with Orlovskyi’s projects.
It is important to note that the NSSMC’s “black mark” serves as a signal not only to potential FFA clients but also to law enforcement authorities. Inclusion on the National Commission’s list of unreliable investment projects is based on indicators of financial fraud — a criminal offense under Article 190 of the Criminal Code.
FFA Crypto, FFA Crypto RISE, and FFA Crypto Capitalist, nominally founded by Oleksandr Orlovskyi, display several of the ten fraud indicators identified by the NSSMC. Specifically:
— Orlovskyi promises returns ranging from 100% to 10,000%.
— His projects are not registered as legal entities and lack a physical office, permits, or operating licenses.
— Neither Orlovskyi nor any authorized representatives sign formal agreements with clients; instead, the “mentor” encourages participants to recruit relatives and friends into the FFA community.
— Orlovskyi runs aggressive online marketing campaigns, while the claims in his advertising are either clearly false or extremely difficult to verify.
Regarding the latter, an example can be seen in a promotional post on the Telegram channel “Batalion Monaco.” It states that Orlovskyi’s Financial Freedom Academy was nominated by its “students” for the supposedly prestigious “Choice of the Country” award and won in the “best education” category. In reality, anyone willing to pay can obtain this award.
Orlovskyi disguises his questionable ventures as educational programs. This “crypto preacher” primarily collects money from citizens not as investments but as fees for purported training in profitable crypto investing. This type of scheme is widely known as infogypsyism — when a fraudster sells an essentially worthless “information product” for high prices. Reportedly, Orlovskyi charges his “students” from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the “level” of the training course.
These so-called “educational” schemes promoted by the mentor contain a core feature typical of financial pyramids — multi-level network marketing. Oleksandr Orlovsky urges his “students” to bring friends and acquaintances into his “crypto sect,” promising them a percentage of each new participant’s contribution.
At the same time, Orlovsky monetizes external crypto ventures by funneling his followers — and their funds — into them via referral links. In some cases, his partner projects show warning signs of fraud and alleged ties to an aggressor state.
It is likely that after the exposure of the “Orlovsky organization,” the National Securities and Stock Market Commission may also scrutinize other infogypsy-style projects that display indicators of financial fraud. One example is the “academy” Profit Lady, officially founded by Kateryna Shukhnina.
Kateryna Shukhnina
A recent investigation titled “Kateryna Shukhnina and Oleksandr Orlovsky: Harmful Connections and Criminal ‘Authorities’” suggested that the two not only operate under very similar schemes but may also share the same ultimate beneficiaries behind their projects.
How Oleksandr Orlovsky “supports” the Armed Forces
Oleksandr Orlovsky, who reached conscription age in April, reportedly avoids returning to his home country and, consequently, military registration (it is known that he resides permanently in Poland). Since September, however, his Financial Freedom Academy has actively incorporated the theme of supporting the Armed Forces into its advertising. Previously, Orlovsky’s promotions emphasized his alleged achievements in the cryptocurrency market, attracting prospective “students” with promises of a luxury lifestyle.
Since the autumn, Orlovsky’s “crypto community” has rebranded itself as a donor and volunteer network — likely not by coincidence. August and September saw a surge of investigative publications in online media portraying the crypto mentor as an ordinary fraudster.
For the sake of balance, it should be noted that Orlovsky had raised the issue of donations to the Armed Forces within the FFA community even before using it prominently in marketing. For example, in December last year, he announced a fundraising campaign of 10 million UAH for drones for Ukrainian defenders. The funds were reportedly intended for the Odesa-based charitable foundation “Wave’91,” whose founders are indeed involved in UAV initiatives.
Over the past year, Orlovsky has at least twice reported on his Telegram channel about making personal donations for military drones. However, the receipts he published did not indicate the sender of the funds.
For example:
As you can see, Oleksandr Orlovsky informs his followers that this April he donated 200,000 UAH for drones for the Armed Forces. But the author of these lines quickly found out that this money was transferred to the charity foundation «Wave’91,» which supports our defenders, not by Oleksandr Orlovsky. And if the IBAN number of the payer mentioned in the receipt is to be believed, Darіa Hatsko made the transfer.
Darya Hatsko — an entrepreneur from the village of Khorosheve near Kharkiv — was registered in October 2023 and liquidated just two months after Oleksandr Orlovsky boasted about the receipt in his Telegram channel. This makes Darya Romanivna look suspiciously like a potential proxy.
At the same time, not everything claimed in PR materials about Orlovsky’s support for the military appears to be entirely false.
Two weeks ago, on December 6, only a few hours after another investigative piece mentioning Oleksandr Orlovsky was published, he launched a fresh and intense wave of self-promotion. For example:
The obvious goal of that wave was to push our publication out of search engine results or at least to undermine the facts presented in it. After all, how could a volunteer-benefactor Oleksandr Orlovsky, who donated to the army millions earned with his sweat and blood, be a fraud?
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that with each wave of PR campaigns, our hero finds himself in an increasingly awkward position. Here is an example of what Oleksandr Orlovsky was spreading about himself three months ago:
In other words, the supposedly extremely generous philanthropist Oleksandr Orlovsky has donated a total of 3 million UAH to the Armed Forces throughout the entire war — only slightly more than half the price of a new BMW (about 5.7 million UAH at the exchange rate) that he reportedly purchased for his luxury car collection, which he claims to expand regularly. The author, however, suspects that Orlovsky’s vehicle fleet may be just as mythical as his contributions to the Armed Forces.
Moving on.
During November and December of this year, Financial Freedom Academy released a series of promotional media pieces stating that Oleksandr Orlovsky transferred 826,000 UAH of his own money to the Superhumans charitable foundation, which focuses on prosthetics and rehabilitation for wounded Ukrainian defenders. Moreover, the PR materials imply that Orlovsky’s crypto community maintains ongoing cooperation with the organization, regularly raising substantial funds for Superhumans.
Superhumans is a specialized prosthetics and reconstruction clinic established in Lviv by major business representatives at the start of the full-scale invasion by the aggressor state. The center employs top medical specialists. Its Supervisory Board is chaired by Health Minister Viktor Lyashko and First Lady Olena Zelenska, while internationally known figures such as Sting and Aimee Mullins serve as ambassadors. Among Superhumans’ partners is the foundation of prominent American businessman, politician, and philanthropist Howard Buffett.
Becoming associated with such a charitable initiative is considered highly prestigious. Therefore, when Oleksandr Orlovsky and Financial Freedom Academy appear alongside these benefactors in helping wounded Ukrainian defenders, the question arises: should the alleged signs of fraud in his schemes simply be ignored?
However, fraudsters are known to mislead in many ways. We contacted Superhumans to clarify whether the foundation cooperates with Financial Freedom Academy and its founder, and whether it authorized the use of the Superhumans name in promoting Mr. Orlovsky.
Journalists received a prompt reply:
According to the PR service of Superhumans, Oleksandr Orlovsky did indeed donate for a prosthetic for a military man. And that’s it. No fundraising for the patients of «Superpeople» is conducted by the «academic» Orlovsky and his Financial Freedom Academy. At least, as far as can be understood, donations collected by the «cryptosect» have not been seen in Superhumans. However, they were somewhat upset that Oleksandr Orlovsky exploits the name of the organization to improve his reputation.
But there is another nuance: journalists found out that the donation confirmed by Superhumans was actually not made by Oleksandr Orlovsky.
On October 18, Sashko posted on his Telegram channel a post calling for donations to the Superhumans fund.
As you can see, Orlovsky attached receipts to this post, supposedly confirming a donation from him to the Superhumans fund for a prosthetic for a wounded soldier named Oleksandr. I downloaded these receipts, enlarged them, and examined them closely. And I saw that 826,000 UAH was transferred in almost equal tranches to the charitable foundation «Superhumans» this August by an individual entrepreneur, Samoylova V.V.
Oleksandr Orlovsky insists the donation was made personally by him, and Superhumans also believe the contribution came from Orlovsky. However, the documents presented by the self-described benefactor indicate otherwise — the funds were actually transferred by a seemingly unrelated individual entrepreneur.
This raises suspicions that Orlovsky may be so accustomed to complex financial maneuvering that even donations for military drones and prosthetics are routed through proxy individuals. Another possible interpretation is that the true beneficiaries behind the Financial Freedom Academy “crypto-sect” may not trust Orlovsky with direct control over either his followers’ funds or charitable contributions.