A joint investigation team of prosecutors and financial authorities has requested arrest warrants for three individuals including an online chat group operator surnamed Kang on charges of stock manipulation.

The trio is accused of artificially raising the stock price of five companies by placing repeated orders and illegally earning profits of some 36 billion won, or around 27 million U.S. dollars, in violation of the Capital Markets Act.

Kang is the operator of an online group on portal site Naver specializing in stock trading information suspected of being the culprit behind a  plunge in the price of the five companies’ shares last month due to the frequent recommendation among group members to invest in them.

Prosecutors questioned Kang as a suspect for three consecutive days since Monday to determine whether illegalities were committed during transactions.

Prosecutors initially suspected he profited from illegal gains of over ten billion won between early 2020 and May of last year but raised that tally to 35-point-nine billion won after the interrogation and an analysis of items seized through raids of his home and office.

Kang denies the charges.