The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has barred Asmita Patel Global School of Trading Pvt Ltd (AGSTPL); finfluencer Asmita Patel, who called herself the ‘She Wolf of the stock market’; her husband Jitesh Jethalal Patel and three others from accessing the securities markets for allegedly providing unregistered investment advisory services and research analyst activities.
The markets regulator, in its interim order, has directed that an amount of Rs 53.67 crore be impounded from these six entities.
The other entities who have been banned by Sebi include Jitesh Jethalal Patel; Sagar Dhanjibhai, proprietor, King Traders; Suresh Parmashivam, proprietor, Gemini Enterprise; and Jigar Rameshbhai Dawada, proprietor, United Enterprises.
Asmita Jitesh Patel, who also referred to herself as the ‘options queen’, is a director of AGSTPL, a company engaged in providing advisory services in securities market, share trading, mutual funds, commodities trading and provide training to clients to manage wealth in securities market.
She has a significant presence in the electronic media through the website — asmitapatel.com — and on social media platforms such as Youtube (526,000 subscribers), Instagram (290,000 followers), Facebook (73,000 followers), Linkedin (1900 followers), and X (4200 followers).
“Noticee Nos. 1 to 3 (Asmita, Jitesh and AGSTPL) are restrained from buying, selling, or dealing in securities, either directly or indirectly, in any manner whatsoever until further orders,” Sebi’s Whole-Time Member Kamlesh Varshney said in the interim order.
The regulator has directed Asmita, Jitesh, and AGSTPL to cease and desist from offering unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services from acting as or holding themselves out to be investment advisor/research analyst.
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“An amount of Rs 53,67,46,384/- being the total unlawful gain earned prima facie from the alleged unregistered investment advisory and research analyst business, shall be impounded jointly and severally from the Noticee no 1 to 6 (Asmita, Jitesh, AGSTPL, and other three entities),” the order said.
Sebi directed banks that no debits should be made without its permission in respect of the bank accounts held by the six entities. However, debits in the bank accounts may be allowed for amounts available in the account in excess of the amount to be impounded Rs 53.67 crore.
The Sebi action came on complaints filed by 42 persons who had enrolled for various courses offered by AGSTPL. They had enrolled for the educational courses, Master’s in Price Action Trading 16 (MPAT 16) and MPAT 17 that were conducted during 2021 and 2022, while a few of them also subscribed to the Let’s Make India Trade (LMIT) course.
Several complainants paid Rs 7 lakh plus 18 per cent GST (in most cases) to AGSTPL and received confirmation of the payment made through email and WhatsApp messages.
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King Traders, Gemini Enterprise, and United Enterprises are proprietary firms through which, based on the advice given by AGSTPL, some course participants allegedly paid the fees into the bank accounts of three proprietary firms.
As per the complainants, Asmita claimed to have mentored over one lakh students/investors/participants worldwide and also managed assets to the tune of Rs 140 crore using her proprietary system.
“The Noticee no.2 (Asmita Patel), through the Zoom meets of Pre-MPAT and LMIT sessions insisted students/investors/participants to liquidate their existing mutual fund investments as well as gold and to borrow from various sources such as banks, friends and family, to enable them to subscribe to the course and bring in more capital towards trades that would be suggested on the telegram channel,” the interim order said.
During the LMIT event, Asmita induced and misguided the students/investors/participants that MPAT would lead to financial success through proper hand-holding and guidance. She acted as a broker herself and advised the complainants that if they already had accounts, the same should be transferred to her branch.
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“The complainants claimed that they were told to invest in certain stocks so that they will be millionaires soon as she got insider information for the complainants, which was pivotal to get access in the market,” the order said.
Despite implementing the prescribed strategies, students/investors/participants failed to achieve profits and instead made substantial financial losses, it said.
By acting as an unregistered investment advisor and research analyst, AGSTPL has been able to circumvent all the regulatory requirements pertaining to an investment advisor and research analyst and has collected large amounts of fee from the investors along with providing educational training related to securities market and thereby harming investors’ interest, Varshney said in the interim order.
This, he said, has resulted in compromising investor interest which has subsequently resulted in a large number of complaints.
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“The Noticee no.2 (Asmita Patel) has significant presence over the social media websites such as You tube, Instagram, Facebook, and Telegram. There is a likely chance that being influenced by the social media presence and followership, gullible investors may continue to fall prey to the unregistered investment advisory/ research analyst activities of the Noticee no. 1 (AGSTPL),” the interim order said.
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