The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has set aside market regulator Sebi’s order banning film actor Arshad Warsi and his wife Maria Goretti for posting misleading investment videos on YouTube.
Arshad and his wife were accused of posting videos on YouTube advising investors to buy shares of Sadhna Broadcast.
On March 2, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred Arshad and Maria along with 31 people, including the promoters of Sadhna Broadcast, from the stock market. The action was taken on the allegation of involvement of these people in a ‘fraudulent and fraudulent’ scheme.
Arshad made a profit of Rs 29.43 lakh from this scheme and his wife got a profit of Rs 37.56 lakh, according to the SEBI order.
Against this order, Arshad, Maria and Arshad’s brother Iqbal Hussain Warsi appealed before the Securities Appellate Tribunal. From there he got relief.
The tribunal set aside the SEBI order saying that no evidence has come to light of the involvement of the Warsi couple in the making, distribution, promotion and uploading of the video in question on YouTube channels.
At the same time, the couple did not indicate by their conduct that investors should buy shares of Sadhna Broadcast. However, the tribunal has asked the Warsi couple to refrain from dealing in shares of Sadhna Broadcast till the probe is completed. Apart from this, it has also been asked to deposit 50 percent of the alleged illegal income from these shares in an escrow account within 15 days.
