The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has imposed restrictions on actor Arshad Warsi, his spouse Maria Goretti and 57 other individuals from participating in securities markets for periods ranging from one to five years. This action follows their involvement in deceptive YouTube videos that encouraged share purchases of Sadhna Broadcast.The regulatory body has imposed monetary penalties of Rs 5 lakh each on Warsi and Goretti, alongside a one-year securities market prohibition, according to Sebi’s directive issued on Thursday.Additionally, the regulator has imposed financial penalties ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 5 crore on 57 other parties, including the promoters of Sadhna Broadcast (presently known as Crystal Business System Ltd).The regulatory body has instructed all 59 entities to return collective illegal profits of Rs 58.01 crore, with an additional 12 per cent annual interest, to be paid jointly until the complete settlement from the investigation conclusion.According to Sebi’s findings, Arshad accumulated profits of Rs 41.70 lakh, whilst his wife gained Rs 50.35 lakh from these activities.The conclusive order identified Gaurav Gupta, Rakesh Kumar Gupta and Manish Mishra as the primary orchestrators of this scheme. The order also revealed that Subhash Aggarwal, a director of SBL’s RTA, served as an intermediary between Manish Mishra and the promoters.These people were the key figures who orchestrated and implemented the deceptive plan, according to Sebi.Additionally, Sebi noted that Peeyush Agarwal and Lokesh Shah allowed their controlled accounts to be utilised for the fraudulent strategies of Manish Mishra and SBL’s promoters.As a dealer at Choice and owner of the stockbroker’s Delhi franchise respectively, they played crucial roles in enabling extensive manipulation of the scrip.Jatin Shah was instrumental in implementing the scheme, whilst other parties either supported the fraudulent activities or participated for quick profits, as stated in the order.According to the 109-page directive, Sebi indicated that the noticees acted as information intermediaries or helped execute manipulative trades, without trading the scrip through their personal accounts.Sebi explained that the organised scheme was carried out in two coordinated stages. Initially, connected and promoter-associated entities conducted trades amongst themselves to gradually increase the scrip price and create artificial market activity.The small-volume transactions had an outsized effect on pricing, primarily due to limited market liquidity. This enabled the involved parties to elevate the share value whilst deploying minimal trading resources.Subsequently, promotional content was broadcast via various YouTube platforms including ‘Moneywise’, ‘The Advisor’, and ‘Profit Yatra’, which were under Manish Mishra’s management, as stated in the directive.These video presentations portrayed SBL as an attractive investment prospect and were strategically released to complement and enhance the orchestrated market activities.
