Thousands Of Calls From Wife's Phone Around Market Hours, Says SEBI Order Against Sanjiv Bhasin

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued an interim ex-parte order against former IIFL Securities Director Sanjiv Bhasin and 11 others in a case involving alleged market manipulation.

According to the order, the accused are said to have made unlawful gains of over Rs 11.3 crore, which SEBI has now directed be impounded.

The case revolves around alleged misuse of media platforms, including television channels and social media, to push stock tips and influence price movements for personal gain.

SEBI noted that Sanjiv Bhasin and others have been found to have violated provisions of Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practice norms and research analyst rules.

The SEBI investigation was launched after three complaints of stock manipulation surfaced against Bhasin in 2023. The regulator's investigation covered the period between January 2020 and June 2024. Search and seizure operations were carried out in June 2024 at various premises.

In its 149-page interim order, SEBI noted that Bhasin was a well-known media guest expert with a huge following on social media. While associated with IIFL as a director or consultant, Bhasin provided stock recommendations through media channels, Telegram, and IIFL platforms.

"Sanjiv Bhasin, in the capacity of director IIFL, used to appear in various media channels as a guest expert and provide stock recommendations," SEBI wrote in its interim order.

In his guest appearances on news channels, Bhasin was referred to as a director in IIFL. However, SEBI said, he traded through RRB Master Securities Delhi Ltd. in the accounts of its clients Venus Portfolios Pvt., Gemini Portfolios Pvt., and HB Stock Holdings Ltd.

In his on-air appearances, Bhasin would mostly issue buy recommendations to viewers of his content, and would then square off his positions — majorly sell — through dealers of RRB Master, and often within a few minutes. These deals would happen in the accounts of Venus, Gemini, and HB.

SEBI said that it had evidence to suggest that Bhasin would remain in continuous touch with dealers and direct them to follow buy/sell instructions, immediately.

RRB, Venus, Gemini and HB are all noticees in the interim order. RRB has also been barred from proprietary trading.

SEBI also noted that in the period of its investigation, Bhasin was using three mobile numbers, one of which belonged to his wife. This mobile number, the regulator said, was exclusively used for the purpose of placing orders.

The three most-contacted numbers on Bhasin's wife's mobile belonged to the dealers of RRB Master. "Except a handful of the calls, all the thousands of calls made through this number were made around market hours i.e. 0830 to 1600 hrs," SEBI wrote.

Bhasin was employed with IIFL Securities in various capacities since 2015. He was employed with IIFL as a director from April 1, 2017, to November 30, 2022. Thereafter, he was once again engaged with the company as a Consultant from December 1, 2022, to June 17, 2024.

IIFL Securities Ltd., in a clarification in 2024 on a reported probe into Bhasin's alleged stock manipulation, had said, "Bhasin was associated with IIFL Securities as a consultant on a contractual basis".

The statement had added, "His term was to end on June 30, 2024. However, due to health reasons, his contract has been discontinued prematurely with effect from June 17, 2024."

The investigation also revealed that several other connected entities misused confidential trade order information obtained directly or indirectly from Bhasin. By mirroring his trading strategy, these entities placed similar trades either in their own accounts or in accounts controlled by them, thereby making ill-gotten gains.

(With inputs from PTI)