The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred finfluencer Asmita Patel, who called herself as the ‘She Wolf of the stock market’; her husband Jitesh Jethalal Patel; their company Asmita Patel Global School of Trading Pvt Ltd (AGSTPL); 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 Sagar Dhanjibhai, proprietor, King Traders; Suresh Parmashivam, proprietor, Gemini Enterprise; and Jigar Rameshbhai Dawada, proprietor, United Enterprises.
Who is Patel: ‘She Wolf of the stock market’?
Asmita Jitesh Patel is a director of Asmita Patel Global School of Trading Private Limited (AGSTPL), a Navi MumbaiMaharashtra-based company that provides advisory services in securities market, share trading, mutual funds and commodities trading. The company also provides training to clients to manage wealth in the securities market.
“Born in a traditional Gujarati family, and embodying strong values and ethics as a teacher, she (Asmita Patel) has won numerous awards, for her contribution to thousands of lives. With 17 years of trading experience, and 10+ years of teaching experience, Asmita Patel is a thought leader and an admired mentor,” according to the information available on the website of AGSTPL.
She referred to herself as the ‘She Wolf of the stock market’ and the ‘options queen’ and claimed to have mentored over one lakh students/investors/participants worldwide. She claimed to manage assets to the tune of Rs 140 crore using her proprietary system.
Asmita has a significant presence in the electronic media through the website of AGSTPL – asmitapatel.com. She has a strong follower base on various social media platforms — YouTube (5,26,000 subscribers), Instagram (2,90,000 followers), Facebook (73,000 followers), Linkedin (1,900 followers), Twitter (4,200 followers).
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Jitesh Patel is the husband of Asmita and is also a director of AGSTPL. King Traders, Gemini Enterprise and United Enterprises are proprietary firms. Based on the advice given by AGSTPL, some course participants allegedly paid the fees into the bank accounts of these three proprietary firms to enrol for various courses offered by AGSTPL.
Sebi’s order
In an interim order, Sebi whole time member Kamlesh Varshney said, “Noticee no 1 to 6 (Asmita, Jitesh, AGSTPL and others) are restrained from buying, selling or dealing in securities, either directly or indirectly, in any manner whatsoever until further orders.”
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. “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.
Mode of operation
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As per Sebi AGSTPL offers various paid courses including Master’s in Price Action Trading (MPAT), Let’s Make India Trade (LMIT), Options Multiplier (OM), Trend Following Income System (TFIS), The Freedom Project (TFP), OneLife and Unleash The Trader Within (UTW).
As per the order, all the 42 complainants had enrolled for the educational courses, MPAT 16 and MPAT 17 that were conducted during 2021 and 2022, while few of them also subscribed for the LMIT course.
The subscribers to MPAT course were added to a Telegram Group named M16/M17 where the Asmita circulated trade details including entry, exit prices. During sessions, she 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. During the LMIT event, she induced and misguided the students/investors/participants that MPAT would lead to financial success through proper hand-holding and guidance.
Asmita 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. She used to say that at every end of the year everyone would make profit no one would suffer losses if traded through her.
The amount of investment made by some of the complainants in their trading accounts ranged from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35 lakh.
Asmita falsely assured and guaranteed assured returns for more than 40 per cent per year in the first masterclass and mentioned that fees will be recovered during the course.
Despite implementing the prescribed strategies, students/investors/participants failed to achieve profits and instead made substantial financial losses
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“Students/investors/participants suffered losses in lakhs and crores of rupees while by using platforms such as Linkedin/YouTube/Facebook/Telegram/ Instagram and WhatsApp, the Noticee no.2 (Asmita Patel) was making crores of money illegally by pushing and teaching stock tips via various forums without any authorisation from Sebi,” the interim order said.
Complainants claimed that they felt deceived and were taken advantage of and they had no choice but to serve a legal notice to AGSTPL and Asmita citing allegations of cheating and deceit. In response to the legal notice, the Asmita distanced herself from the situation asserting that her involvement was limited to providing educational advice and had no connection to trading.
“The Noticee no.2 (Asmita) misrepresented not only course participants but also the public at large about managing a huge portfolio in her proprietary system of Rs 140 crore or Rs 283 crore,” Sebi’s order said.
