SEBI Carried Out Search and Seizure Operation of Market Manipulators in 4 States

SEBI Carried Out Search and Seizure Operation of Market Manipulators in 4 States SEBI, the market regulator, launched search and seizure operations across the country on Thursday, notably in Delhi and Mumbai, to uncover market wrongdoing. According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the operations were carried out at the premises of seven individuals and one business entity in Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar in Gujarat, Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Mumbai. These entities are said to be running nine Telegram channels with over five million users, where they make recommendations on selected listed scrips. Such advice motivated investors to trade in the aforementioned scrips, resulting in fake volume and price rises. SEBI stated that during the search and seizure operations, officers recovered different data and papers from the custody of these individuals, including 34 mobile phones, 6 laptops, 4 desktops, 4 tablets, 2 hard drive discs, and 1 pen drive. It further stated that they were allegedly running Telegram channels with over 5 million users, advocating scrips. "Such advice drove investors to trade in the aforementioned scrips, resulting in false volume and price rises. This gave their affiliated entities the opportunity to sell their shares at greater prices and make substantial gains at the expense of naïve regular investors. Data, emails, and other documents have been recovered from the seized devices, and an extensive investigation is underway." the marker regulator has been added SEBI received information that communications containing stock tips and other financial advice for specific listed firms are regularly shared via websites and social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and others. In order to acquire members to their social media channels, perpetrators of such fraud employ a variety of marketing strategies. Earlier in December, SEBI officials carried out a search and seizure operation in the premises of some individuals engaged in similar manipulative operations via Telegram groups. In accordance with it, see Order dated January 12, 2022. SEBI determined that the administrators of a Telegram channel with a huge subscriber base persuaded the members to act on recommendations posted on the channel, resulting in significant price and volume impact in multiple scrips. These administrators had built big positions in these scrips prior to the distribution of recommendations and offloaded their positions following the rise in the price of these scripts, reaping substantial gains at the cost of naïve investors. SEBI further advised investors not to depend on unsolicited investment advice received via social media sites. It is also recommended that investors exhibit extreme prudence while making investment selections in the securities market. Meanwhile, the capital market regulator fined three organisations a total of Rs 15 lakh earlier today for engaging in non-genuine trades in stock options on the BSE. The regulator fined Priti Sultania, Deepa Hirani, and Vivek Rungta HUF Rs 5 lakh each in three consecutive rulings. The directives were issued after Sebi witnessed large-scale reversal trades on the BSE's stock options segment, which resulted in the creation of false volume in the segment. As a result, the regulator has warned investors not to depend on such investing recommendations / advice obtained via social media networks. It has also stated that investors should use extreme prudence when making investing decisions in the securities market. Judge Purushottam B Jadhav, Sebi Special Judge / Additional Sessions Judge, issued the order for the search and seizure operation to the regulator. Source: Business Today & Business Standard