The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Saturday banned six entities, one being YouTuber and finfluencer Asmita Patel from the capital markets. As it has allegedly functioned with a non-innovative registration status investment advisory services, that action was carried out. This consists of Jitesh Jethalal Patel, Gemini Enterprise, Patel-Asmita Patel Global School of Trading Pvt Ltd- APGSOT and United Enterprises- King Traders, it adds. All such bans according to a PTI report referred from a SEBI order numbered to 129-page.
SEBI’s investigation followed a complaint from 42 investors who accused Patel and her business of unauthorized investment advisory practices. The complainants alleged that Patel managed assets worth ₹140 crore using her proprietary system. As a result, SEBI ordered her to return over ₹53 crore in fees collected from participants in her courses, claiming they were misled with inflated profit promises and coerced into paying high fees for subpar trading education.
APGSOT has also been accused of enticing students to trade specific stocks based on suggestions for buying and selling through private Telegram channels, Zoom meetings, and emails. It is alleged that students were advised to open trading accounts with ABC Ltd. A preliminary investigation has been conducted by the SEBI in between August 2019 to October 2023 in a check of these services offered on whether appropriate registrations have been met under the investment adviser IA. In all these six, amounts worth ₹53.67 crores were thus collected by it through LMIT, MPAT, Options Multiplier (OM), among various courses offered.
