‘Bollywood circuit’ trapped in fraud, SEBI bans Arshad Warsi and his wife, actor clarifies

Actor Arshad Warsi issued a clarification on Friday after he was barred from trading securities by markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in connection with YouTube pump-and-dump scheme. In a tweet, the 54-year-old actor said that he and his wife Maria Goretti have no knowledge about the shares and have invested in Sadhna Broadcast Ltd after taking advice. Arshad Warsi said “Please don’t believe everything you read in the news. I have nil knowledge about maria and stocks, consulted lee and sharda [साधना] Invested in, and like many others, lost all our hard earned money.

Please do not believe everything you read in the news. Maria and my knowledge about stocks is zero, took advice and invested in Sharda, and like many others, lost all our hard earned money.

— Arshad Warsi (@ArshadWarsi) March 2, 2023

A day earlier, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday barred 45 entities, including actor Arshad Warsi, his wife Maria Goretti and Sadhna Broadcast promoters, from trading in the securities market. The regulator has taken this step in the matter of posting misleading videos on YouTube channel suggesting investors to buy shares of the company. The matter pertains to posting of misleading videos on YouTube channel. In these videos Sadhna Broadcast Ltd. and Sharpline Broadcast Ltd. It was advised to buy shares of Apart from the Warsi couple, Sebi has also barred some of the promoters of Sadhna Broadcast from trading in the securities market. Apart from this, the regulator has also ordered forfeiture of Rs 54 crore of illegal profits made to these entities after posting misleading videos on YouTube channel in two interim orders.

In the case of Sadhna Broadcast, Sebi said Arshad Warsi made a profit of Rs 29.43 lakh, while his wife made a profit of Rs 37.56 lakh. Apart from this, Iqbal Hussain Warsi also wrongly earned a profit of Rs 9.34 lakh. SEBI had received complaints that share prices of TV channel Sadhna Broadcast and Delhi-based Sharpline Broadcast were being rigged by some entities. Apart from this, these units are also withdrawing shares of the company. The complaint alleged that these videos with misleading content were uploaded on YouTube to ‘lure’ investors. Thereafter, the regulator examined the matter during April-September, 2022. The investigation revealed the fact that during April to July 2022, there was a huge jump in the value and volume of shares of both the companies.

During the second fortnight of July, 2022, false and misleading videos about Sadhna were uploaded on two YouTube channels – ‘The Advisor’ and ‘Moneywise’. Similar videos about Sharplines were uploaded on two YouTube channels Midcap Calls and ProfitYatra in the second fortnight of May. After these videos, there was a huge jump in the share price and volume of both the companies. During this period some of the promoter shareholders, key management positions and non-promoter shareholders sold the shares at higher prices and made profits. A misleading video even claimed that Sadhna Broadcast would be acquired by the Adani Group.