Four Indian brokerages settle SEC charges for $1.8 mn

The officials of the brokerages could not be immediately contacted.

In a statement, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it has charged Ambit Capital Pvt Ltd, Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd, JM Financial Institutional Securities Pvt Ltd and Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd.

They were charged for "for providing brokerage services to institutional investors in the US without being registered with the SEC as required under the federal securities laws," the statement said.

Together, the four firms have "agreed to pay more than USD 1.8 million combined to settle the SEC's charges".

According to the regulator, these entities engaged with US investors despite being unregistered broker-dealers, in ways such as sponsored conferences in the US, among others.

 

"In their respective settlements, the firms agreed to be censured while neither admitting nor denying the SEC's charges.

"Ambit agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling USD 30,910. Edelweiss agreed to pay USD 568,347. JM Financial agreed to pay USD 443,545 and Motilal agreed to pay USD 821,594," the statement said.