SEBI bars TV anchor, market expert, others for fraudulent and unfair trades

New Delhi, Oct. Oct 4 Marker regulator SEBI on Monday barred TV anchor Pradeep Pandya, market expert Alpesh Furiya and four others on charges of undertaking fraudulent and unfair trade practices while transacting in the securities market.

It also issued directions for impounding gains of Rs 8.4 crore made by the operators in their fraudulent deals.

"There is a repeated pattern of such fraudulent and unfair trading activity being carried out by these entities," Sebi whole-time member Madhabi Puri Buch said in an interim order.

"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," the order said.

The involvement of Pandya, as detected by SEBI, is not the first such instance of fradulatent trade by a mediaperson. Earlier also, TV anchors were found trading in stocks ahead of formal recommendations made on the channel.

In Pandya's case, Furiya was found to be trading in shares that the anchor used to recommend in the programmes ahead of its telecast. This made him play with the stocks based on advance information.

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

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