Sebi bars TV anchor, expert and four others for fraudulent trades

Market watchdog Sebi on Monday barred TV anchor Pradeep Pandya, market expert Alpesh Furiya and four others for accessing the securities market for allegedly indulging in fraudulent trading activity. The regulator has also directed impounding of ill-gotten gains of Rs 8.4 crore.

“There is a repeated pattern of such fraudulent and unfair trading activity being carried out by these entities. The directions are preventive in nature as Pandya has the potential, in view his association with the media channels, to possibly be part of other shows / channels / media giving recommendations /contributing to any activities related to the securities market. Pandya and Alpesh Furiya have also appeared on a show hosted by the spouse of Pandya,” Sebi whole-time member Madhabi Puri Buch said in an interim order.

This is the second time the market regulator has taken action against a TV anchor for allegedly trading in stocks ahead of recommending them on their shows.

Sources said Sebi is keeping a close watch on all media outlets through sophisticated machine learning technology to ensure that they don’t indulge in such fraudulent activity.

Sebi in the order has alleged that Pandya and Furiya had advance access to the information pertaining to the stock recommendations. And they were aware the recommendations lead to an increase in the traded volume and price of the scrip.

Furiya and four connected entities executed a repeated and consistent pattern of trading, which was in synchronization with the recommendations made by Pandya on his shows, Sebi has alleged.

Industry players said Sebi’s order sends a strong signal to the market as a lot of investors take cues from recommendations given on TV shows during live market hours.