Insider Trading

Markets regulator Sebi on Friday proposed to extend the automated closure of trading window ahead of the declaration of financial results to the immediate relatives of designated persons of listed companies. The move, if implemented, would prevent inadvertent non-compliance of insider trading rules, according to a consultation paper floated by Sebi. The markets regulator, in August 2022, issued a framework restricting trading by depository participants by way of freezing the PAN at security level during the trading window closure period. The freezing of the PAN at the security level is being carried out by the stock exchanges and depositories based on the information provided by the listed company. Initially, this PAN freeze framework was made applicable for trading window closure on account of declaration of financial results of listed companies that were part of benchmark indices such as Nifty 50 and Sensex. Subsequently, Sebi in July 2023, extended the framework to restrict tra

Two individuals, including a former employee of Deloitte India, on Monday settled with capital markets regulator Sebi a case pertaining to the alleged violation of insider trading rules by paying Rs 74 lakh towards settlement fee. Nimai Parekh and Rahil Dalal (applicants) had proposed to settle the matter by neither "admitting nor denying the findings of fact and conclusions of law", Sebi said. "In exercise of the powers...and in terms of the settlement regulations, it is hereby ordered that any proceedings that may be initiated for the violations are settled in respect of the applicants," Sebi's whole-time member Kamlesh C Varshney said in the settlement order. Sebi conducted an investigation in the scrips of HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd, so as to ascertain whether any suspected entities on the basis of information relating to amalgamation/merger, had traded in the scrips, and thereby violated PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) rules. The investigation period was taken from Novemb

TBS said the relative used the information to make at least several hundreds of thousands of yen worth of profit from equity trading

Rashmi Saluja faces calls for removal ahead of key shareholders' meeting amid insider trading allegations and ED investigation

Sebi board meeting today, Sept 30, will be the first meeting since allegations were pressed against Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch by Hindenburg Research. Here's what to expect from the meeting

Authorities charged four men, including a relative of the King of Jordan, for conspiring to make insider stock trades on a business acquired by one of South Florida's major publicly held companies, MasTec. Federico Nannini, 26; his father, Mauro Nannini, 63; and two of his friends, Alejandro Thermiotis, 26; and Francisco Tonarely, 25, were arrested Friday and charged in a federal indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and 24 related offenses, The Miami Herald reported. Thermiotis is the King of Jordan's relative. Thermiotis' brother, Jameel, married King Abdulla's daughter, Princess Iman, last year. The Jordanian Royal Palace did not respond to a request for comment. According to the indictment from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, the four defendants shared confidential information within a close circle of family and friends, and used it to buy shares at a lower price and then turn a USD 1 million profit after the informatio

Sebi on Monday lifted restrictions imposed on 16 entities, including some former employees of Infosys, in a case pertaining to alleged insider trading activities in IT major shares. The regulator also directed that the prohibition slapped on six entities -- Amit Bhutra, Bharath C Jain, Capital One Partners, Tesora Capital, Manish C Jain and Ankush Bhutra -- through the interim order, along with the confirmatory order, will stand vacated with immediate effect, bringing an end to the matter. "I deem it fit to vacate the directions issued vide the interim order read with confirmatory order against noticees 2 to 7 and dispose of instant proceedings against all the noticees. "The interim order and the Confirmatory Order in respect of the noticees have already been quashed by the SAT vide its order dated April 25, 2022," Sebi's whole-time member Ashwani Bhatia said in the 57-page final order. The case originated after Sebi identified suspicious trading patterns around the financial resul

Three individuals on Tuesday settled with capital markets regulator Sebi a case pertaining to alleged violation of insider trading rules in the scrip of PNB Housing Finance Ltd after paying Rs 1.56 crore collectively. Those who settled the case are -- Sidhant Chandalia, Naysar Parikh and Ronak Narendra Parikh, according to two separate orders passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Individually, Chandalia and Naysar Parikh paid Rs 50.7 lakh each towards the settlement amount, and Ronak Narendra Parikh remitted Rs 45.5 lakh as a settlement charge and Rs 8.98 lakh towards disgorgement of wrongful gain along with interest. "In view of the acceptance of the settlement terms and the receipt of settlement amount..., the instant adjudication proceedings initiated against the Noticee(s) vide SCN (Show Cause Notice) ...is disposed of," Sebi said. The directives came after the three persons filed applications with Sebi proposing to settle the instant proceedings initiat

Capital markets regulator Sebi has amended mutual fund norms requiring Asset Management Companies (AMCs) to put in place an institutional mechanism to identify and deter front-running and insider trading in securities. Additionally, the management of AMCs will be responsible for ensuring the effectiveness of the institutional mechanism. Also, the regulator has directed AMCs to have a whistle-blower mechanism. This came in the wake of Sebi's passing two orders regarding front-running cases involving Axis AMC and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). In a gazette notification dated August 1, Sebi said, "Asset management companies shall put in place an institutional mechanism, as may be specified by the Board, for the identification and deterrence of potential market abuse including front-running and fraudulent transactions in securities". Front-running refers to an illegal practice, where an entity trades based on advanced information from a stock broker or analyst before the .

Proposes amendments in definition of 'connected persons', covers more relatives under PIT Regulations

Matter pertains to 2020-21 when IT major entered into a partnership with global asset manager Vanguard

British billionaire Joe Lewis, whose family trust owns the Tottenham Hotspur soccer club, will not spend any time in prison after pleading guilty to insider trading and conspiracy charges in New York, a federal judge said. Judge G.L. Clarke cited Lewis' decision to promptly come to the United States to face charges and his failing health, along with a lifetime of good works, in ruling that Lewis will face three years on probation and a $5 million fine rather than time behind bars. Lewis, 87, was wearing an eye patch and one of his hands shook steadily throughout the one-hour proceeding in a federal court in Manhattan. He has remained in the United States since last July. Before he was sentenced, Lewis spoke briefly, saying he learned growing up in England during World War II how precious life is and decided to devote much of his life to finding a cure for horrendous diseases. Your honor, I'm here today because I made a terrible mistake. I'm ashamed, he said. Lewis said he hoped to

Agreement will have the two companies work together in 'creating market awareness'

Sharad Pawar's nephew has been asked to pay penalty within 45 days for violating norms in Poonawalla Fincorp (earlier Magma Fincorp) case

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Wednesday quashed regulator Sebi's order banning Future Retail chairperson Kishore Biyani and some other promoters from the securities market for one year in an insider trading case. Dismissing the Sebi's order, the appellate tribunal said that the entities did not trade in the shares of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on the basis of unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) relating to demerger as such information was already in public domain through multiple media reports. "We are satisfied that the information relating to de-merger was already in the public domain and, therefore, trading done by the appellants in the shares after the publication of the interviews and news reports cannot be considered as trading while in possession of UPSI. Thus, the charge in the show cause notice fails and the findings given by the WTM cannot be sustained. The impugned order is quashed," a bench comprising Presiding Officer Tarun Agarwala and Technical ...

Sebi on Monday levied fines totalling Rs 65 lakh on five individuals for flouting insider trading norms in the matter of ABC Bearings Ltd. The regulator slapped a fine of Rs 20 lakh on Jaisingh Sudhirkumar Choudhary, Rs 15 lakh on Menal Rasesh Parikh and Rs 10 lakh each on Himanshu K Desai, Anirudh R Parikh and Sudhirkumar Choudhary. The order came after Sebi conducted a detailed investigation into the matter to ascertain whether trading was done in the scrip of ABC Bearings by certain suspected entities on the basis of unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) relating to the merger of ABC Bearings with Timken India Ltd for the period January-July 2017. In its order, the Securities and Exchange Board of India found that Himanshu, who had been representing Parikh & Shah (P&S), the statutory auditor of ABC Bearings had attended meetings pertaining to the proposed merger and was in possession of UPSI, therefore he was an insider. "I note that Himanshu had access to UPSI ...

An individual on Wednesday settled a case with markets regulator Sebi in relation to the alleged violation of insider trading norms in the matter of Himadri Speciality Chemical Ltd after paying Rs 26 lakh as settlement charges. The settlement order came after the applicant, Debashis Ghosh, proposed to settle the instant proceedings initiated against him "without admitting or denying the findings of facts and conclusions of law". "In view of the acceptance of the settlement terms and the receipt of settlement amount... the instant adjudication proceedings initiated against applicant vide show cause notice dated December 28, 2022, is disposed of in terms of the ... Settlement Regulations," Sebi's Adjudicating Officer Barnali Mukherjee said in an order. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had initiated adjudication proceedings against the applicant for the alleged violation of the code of conduct of PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) rules. A show cause notice was issu

Lewis faces more than a dozen counts of securities fraud for alleged brazen conduct that spanned about eight years

Two Indian-origin people, including a former Pfizer employee, have been charged with insider trading by federal authorities for their scheme to reap illicit profits by trading on information about the results of a COVID-19 medicine's clinical trials by the pharmaceutical giant. Amit Dagar, a former Pfizer employee, and his close friend and business partner Atul Bhiwapurkar were charged on Thursday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their scheme to reap illicit profits through insider trading. In a parallel action, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York also announced criminal charges against the duo. Dagar, 44, of Hillsborough, New Jersey, was arrested on Thursday and was charged with four counts of securities fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Bhiwapurkar, 45, of Milpitas, California, was also .

Markets regulator Sebi on Thursday revoked a securities market ban imposed on six entities in a case of alleged insider trading in the shares of Poonawalla Fincorp Ltd, earlier known as Magma Fincorp Ltd. The six entities are Saumil Shah, Surabhi Kishore Shah, Amit Agrawal, Murlidhar Bajaranglal Agrawal, Rakesh Rajendra Bhojgadhiya and Rakesh Rajendra Bhojgadhiya HUF. The regulator revoked the ban following the settlement of cases by the entities. The six entities had filed the settlement applications under the provisions of Sebi (Settlement proceedings) rules in respect of the alleged violation of norms, according to a Sebi order. The settlement terms proposed by the noticees were accepted and approved by Sebi and subsequently, settlement orders were passed in respect of the proceedings initiated against the noticees vide the show cause notice. Sebi had passed an ex-parte ad-interim order in September 2021, against certain entities, including the noticees, for alleged violation o