Facts of market manipulation in transactions with options established

The Bank of Russia has established facts of market manipulation in the course of transactions with options¹ in on-exchange trading (hereinafter, the Options). Over the period from 27 April 2022 to 16 May 2022, Aleksei V. Reshetnikov conducted operations across brokerage accounts of Yekaterina A. Klevtsova and Olga V. Stepanova, which caused significant deviations in the volume of trading in the Options.

According to the findings of the investigation, the above transactions with the Options are qualified as market manipulation pursuant to Clause 2 of Part 1 of Article 5 of Federal Law No. 224-FZ, dated 27 July 2010, ‘On Countering the Misuse of Insider Information and Market Manipulation and Amending Certain Laws of the Russian Federation’ (hereinafter, Federal Law No. 224-FZ).

Thus, Ye.A. Klevtsova, O.V. Stepanova and A.V. Reshetnikov violated the prohibition stipulated by Part 2 of Article 6 of Federal Law No. 224-FZ.

The Bank of Russia has sent binding orders to Ye.A. Klevtsova, O.V. Stepanova and A.V. Reshetnikov to cease and desist from similar violations in the future. Furthermore, these persons are subject to administrative proceedings and transactions on their trading accounts are suspended.

Moreover, the Bank of Russia has cancelled the qualification certificates of a financial market specialist issued to A.V. Reshetnikov.

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