The order came during a hearing by a two-member bench headed by Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar before whom an appeal was filed by ASTA against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) order that barred Mumbai-based financial influencer Avadhut Sathe and his academy from offering unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services.
In a statement issued today, ASTA said, “We have full faith in the judiciary and are optimistic that in the next hearing, all our prayers will be accepted. We are confident, justice shall prevail. We stay committed to our student community, nurturing an ecosystem of educated, skilled traders & investors.”.
ASTA approached the appellate tribunal after Sebi asked it to deposit a sum of Rs 546.16 crores based on the allegation that it runs an unregistered investment advisory and research analysis.
ASTA’s counsel Janak Dwarkadas told the tribunal that Sebi “passed a sentence without a trial”, by not giving an opportunity of hearing before passing an ex-parte order.
The senior counsel said that the Sebi order came following “complaints of only 12 students” against 3.5 lakh students, who have been imparted training at the Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy.
ASTA is a Karjat-based academy which calls itself as a community-driven platform for skill building in financial markets.Also Read: Who is Avadhut Sathe, the Bollywood-style trading guru now under Sebi lens?
Sebi order
“From the findings of the investigation, it is clear that none of noticees (Avadhut Sathe and his Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy) are registered with Sebi as investment advisor or research analyst. However, despite being not registered, noticees have been providing investment advisory and research analyst services under the guise of their stock market training programs to a large number of investors,” Sebi whole time member Kamlesh Varshney said in his 125- page order passed on December 4.
The regulator said they have collected Rs 601 crore from more than 3.37 lakh investors.
“The noticees have been recklessly misleading, soliciting and inducing the investors to deal in the securities market on the basis of investment advice and stock analysis without having the requisite registration certificate as mandated under securities laws,” Sebi member said.
Further, they have been barred from using live stock exchange data for any purpose and from advertising performance of profits of themselves or their course participants.
Sebi received complaints that Sathe and his academy selectively showcased only profitable trades of course participants and thereby misled course participants regarding actual trading performance.
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