The regulator has recorded a blatant case of market manipulation on the organized trading floors of the Moscow Exchange. Two retail traders, acting in collusion, executed more than ten thousand trades in shares of the energy company OGK-2, artificially driving up quotes using the classic pump and dump scheme. The violators have now been brought to administrative responsibility, and operations on their accounts have been suspended.
The individuals in question are Konstantin and Anastasia Mikhailov, who traded from their own brokerage accounts. The Central Bank classified their actions under paragraphs 2 and 5 of part 1 of Article 5 of Law No. 224-FZ, which directly indicates a deliberate distortion of the market price of the financial instrument.
The Mechanics of Manipulation: How the Price Was Pumped
The scheme used by the Mikhailovs is not new, but its scale is striking. Throughout 2025, they systematically bought up OGK-2 shares through aggressive orders, provoking an unnatural rise in the value of the securities relative to the level that would have formed without their intervention. At peak values, the accumulated stake was instantly sold, locking in profits.
However, the couple did not stop there. They also employed the reverse strategy: through a series of aggressive sell orders, they crashed the quotes, after which they bought the assets back at reduced prices. Such cycles were repeated multiple times within a single trading session, creating chaos and increased risks for other market participants.
The scale is impressive: in total, the Mikhailovs executed over 10,000 trades in the energy company's shares. Each of them triggered spikes in volatility and increased financial risks for other investors.
Moreover, part of the operations was carried out through prior collusion between their own accounts, leading to significant deviations in price and volume from objective market values. This is no longer mere speculation, but a deliberate distortion of the market picture.
Following the inspection, the regulator not only brought the violators to account but also issued orders to prevent similar actions in the future. Trading organizers and professional participants have been instructed to suspend operations on the Mikhailovs' accounts.
Why This Matters: Against the Backdrop of AI Control Launch
This case is a vivid illustration that manual detection of such schemes is becoming increasingly labor-intensive. The volume of suspicious operations runs into thousands of trades, and modern technology is indispensable here. That is why the Moscow Exchange has announced the introduction of artificial intelligence into its compliance framework — the system should analyze hundreds of thousands of transactions in real time and identify signs of coordinated actions.
Irina Grekova, Senior Managing Director for Compliance and Business Ethics at the Moscow Exchange, emphasizes that technological control tools have become one of the key areas for enhancing market resilience and transparency. In her assessment, AI accelerates big data processing, while the freed-up expert resources are directed toward analyzing complex cases like the one described above.
My comment: this case is just the tip of the iceberg. Manual checks can no longer cope with the flow of data, and the transition to AI monitoring is an inevitable step for any modern exchange. However, it is important to understand: manipulators are also adapting, and the arms race between regulators and violators will only intensify. Investors should be especially attentive to liquidity and anomalous movements in low-liquidity securities such as OGK-2.