The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned YouTuber Asmita Jitesh Patel and her trading school for offering unregistered investment advice. The regulatory body claimed that the financial influencer, often dubbed as ‘She-Wolf of Stock Market’ or ‘Options Queen’, has amassed a sum of ₹104 crore through “ill-gotten means”, reported Economic Times. The outlet added that investors lost crores after following her “stock tips.”
SEBI impounded an amount of ₹53.6 crore from Asmita Patel, her Global School of Trading, and four associated entities who were allegedly offering illegal investment advisory services that were masked as educational courses.
The regulatory body has also demanded the entities justify why the additional amount collected from various programmes should not be seized. They are also instructed to remove all related videos, publications, and websites from circulation.
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SEBI’s investigation into Patel, which came after the agency's ban on using live share price data for educational purposes, confirmed that her school was giving buy and sell recommendations. The communication was done using Telegram channels, reported The Hindu Business Line, adding that this crosses into illegal advisory services.
“The acts of Asmita Patel Global School of Trading make it evident that it was providing investment advice and research analyst services to students, investors and participants for a consideration under the pretext of imparting education,” said the show-cause notice-cum-ex-parte interim order, the outlet reported.
SEBI’s 128-page order:
{{/usCountry}}“The acts of Asmita Patel Global School of Trading make it evident that it was providing investment advice and research analyst services to students, investors and participants for a consideration under the pretext of imparting education,” said the show-cause notice-cum-ex-parte interim order, the outlet reported.
SEBI’s 128-page order:
{{/usCountry}}According to The Hindu Business Line, a 128-page order was issued by SEBI in the matter. “Examination revealed that prima facie, the Asmita Patel Global School of Trading along with Asmita Patel and Jitesh Patel devised a scheme wherein students/ investors/ participants were lured to trade in specific stocks and encouraged to open trading accounts with ABC Ltd,” said Kamlesh Varshney, a member of SEBI, in the order.
As per The Hindu Business Line, she leveraged her strong online presence to give “stock tips.” She has over 526,000 YouTube subscribers, 73,000 followers on Facebook, and 90,000 Instagram followers.
She further offered “educational courses” through her website - Options Multiplier (OM), Master’s in Price Action Trading (MPAT), and Let’s Make India Trade (LMIT).