Within a few days of tightening rules to curb unregistered finfluencers from providing stock tips, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has ordered the impounding of ₹53.67 crore from Asmita Patel, her Global School of Trading, and four associated entities for allegedly offering illegal investment advisory services masked as educational courses.
Asmita Patel, her institution, and her spouse Jitesh Patel are directed to stop offering unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services. Additionally, all six entities involved are barred from trading in the securities market until further orders.
SEBI’s investigation uncovered that Patel’s school, under the garb of offering stock market training courses, was providing stock and options recommendations — activities that fall under registered investment advisors and research analysts. The probe followed complaints from 42 students.
“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, whole-time member of SEBI, in a 128-page order.
On January 29, SEBI banned the use of live share price data for educational purposes, targeting financial influencers who offer stock tips as education. The investigation confirmed that Patel’s school was giving buy and sell recommendations through Telegram channels, clearly crossing 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,” the show-cause notice-cum-ex-parte interim order said.
SEBI has demanded that the entities justify why an additional ₹104.6 crore, collected from various programmes, should not be seized. The regulator has also instructed them to immediately remove all related websites, videos, and publications.
While the school has filed a suo motu settlement application in the matter, SEBI has clarified that filing for settlement does not stop the initiation of proceedings.
Known as the “she-wolf” and “options queen,” Patel leveraged her strong online presence, with 526,000 YouTube subscribers, 90,000 Instagram followers, and 73,000 Facebook followers. Through her website, she offered paid educational courses, including ‘Let’s Make India Trade’ (LMIT), ‘Master’s in Price Action Trading’ (MPAT), and ‘Options Multiplier’ (OM).