Sebi bans 3 individuals from markets for unauthorised investment advisory

Capital markets regulator Sebi has barred three individuals from the securities markets for providing unauthorised investment advisory services.

Besides, they have been restrained from the securities markets for six months.

The present proceedings emanate from a show cause notice dated July 31, 2021 issued by Sebi to RNS Global Capital and its proprietors' -- Lakhan Chouhan, Rohit Soni and Shivani Thakur -- alleging that they were engaged in unauthorised investment advisory services.

Sebi had come across a website which belonged to RNS Global Capital in the archived pages as the web page is not active.

On perusal of the web pages, it found prima facie that -- Chouhan, Soni and Thakur -- were engaged in giving advice relating to investing in, purchasing or dealing in securities or investment products, through their website.

Chouhan, Soni and Thakur have been collectively referred to as noticees.

The amount of money to have been collected by the noticees was Rs 1.20 crore for the period October 2017 to July 2020, Sebi said in the order on Tuesday.

In its order, the regulator directed the noticees to refund within three months the money received from investors (jointly and severally) as fees in respect of their unregistered investment advisory activities.

They have also been debarred from accessing as well as dealing in securities markets directly or indirectly in any manner for six months from the date of this completion of refunds to the investors.

In addition, they shall not undertake investment advisory services or any activity in the securities market without obtaining a certificate of registration from Sebi either directly or indirectly during or after the expiry of the debarment period.

Meanwhile, in another order, the regulator slapped fines totalling Rs 4 lakh on an entity for violating disclosure lapses in the matter of Futurefone Ltd.

The order came after Sebi conducted an examination to ascertain the compliance status of Futurefone Ltd and non-convertible debentures issued by the entity for the period April 2020 to August 2021.

In a separate order, Sebi imposed a fine of Rs 4 lakh on 4 entities for failing to make disclosures to the stock exchange under SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) rules.