MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers, in cooperation with the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, have disrupted the activities of three individuals who used Telegram channels to manipulate the market of securities on the Moscow Exchange, the FSB Public Relations Center reported.

"The illegal activities of three Russian citizens (born in 1985, 1997, and 1998), the organizers of the Telegram channels ‘MarketsMoneyPower | RDV,’ ‘Wolf from the Moscow Exchange,’ and ‘Signals of the Russian Securities Market,’ who were involved in systematic manipulation of the Russian stock market, have been stopped," the Center reported.

Between 2023 and 2024, the defendants manipulated the price of securities to perform reverse transactions at artificially created prices, according to the FSB. These transactions were accompanied by publications in their Telegram channels calling for the purchase or sale of assets, which significantly influenced the price of Russian securities on the stock market. The defendants obtained criminal proceeds on an especially large scale.

"More than 55,000 illegal transactions with securities of 19 large companies have been documented," the report said.

The FSB, in cooperation with the Bank of Russia, is constantly implementing a range of measures to identify, prevent, and suppress economic crimes, including instances of manipulation in the financial market, the Service added.