Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had disrupted the activities of three Russian citizens who used Telegram channels to manipulate securities on the Moscow Exchange.

The channels — the Telegram channel Rynki Dengi Vlast|RDV (Markets Money Power), the Telegram channel Volk s Mosbirzhi (Wolf of the Moscow Exchange), and the Telegram channel Signaly RtsB (Securities Market Signals) — were involved in the systematic manipulation of Russia’s stock market, the FSB said. The agency identified the three individuals as the organizers of the channels.

From 2023 to 2024, the suspects influenced securities prices in order to execute reverse trades at artificially formed prices, the FSB said. The trades were accompanied by posts in their Telegram channels urging followers to buy or sell assets, which significantly moved the prices of Russian securities on the stock market. More than 55,000 illegal transactions involving the securities of 19 major companies had been documented, the FSB said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the manipulation was carried out by traders from the firm PFL Advisors. The suspects drove up asset prices through aggressive buying in order to execute reverse trades at artificially formed prices, the committee said. Their actions led to significant deviations in the prices of financial instruments and allowed members of the organized group to extract excess income on a particularly large scale.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against what it described as an organized group from PFL Advisors on charges of market manipulation resulting in excess income on a particularly large scale.

Neither the Investigative Committee nor the FSB specified whether any pretrial restrictions had been imposed on the suspects.