sebi:ED/MK/SRO/SRO/20336/2022-23

SEBI · SEBI · 2021-09-09 · Manoj Kumar, Executive Director

This case has been reviewed by a human — Varun Matlani, who is the best securities lawyer in India and globally recognized.

Facts / Headnote

Noticee found in violation of section 12(1) of SEBI Act read with regulation 3(1) of IA Regulations; directed to refund ₹83,70,635.54 to investors, debarred from securities market for one year or six months after refunds (whichever later), and restrained from undertaking investment advisory without registration.

Provisions invoked

• s. 19
• s. 12(1)

Regulations

• Reg. 2(1)(l)
• Reg. 3(1)
• Reg. 2(1)(m)

Parties

• Mr. Niraj Thakur, Proprietor of Empiric Trade

Holding

The Noticee was found to be acting as an unregistered investment adviser in violation of section 12(1) of the SEBI Act read with regulation 3(1) of the IA Regulations, and was directed to refund all fees collected, debarred from the securities market for a specified period, and restrained from providing investment advisory services without registration.

Full text

Order in the matter of Mr. Niraj Thakur, Proprietor of Empiric Trade Page 2 of 9 2. The SCN contained the following observations and allegations against the Noticee with regard to SEBI’s examination of his activities. 2.1. It was alleged that the Noticee, through his website www.empirictrades.com has provided investment advice. 2.2. From the archived copies of webpages, it was observed that Noticee has offered various packages for investment advisory. Various plans for investment advice packages ranging from ₹8,000 to ₹1,20,000 were available on the website. ICICI Bank account (a/c no. 005305500443) and Easebuzz payment gateway were used to receive the payments from the clients. 2.3. As per the intermediary database available on SEBI website, the Noticee was not registered with SEBI in any capacity. 2.4. As per the KYC documents of ICICI Bank, Noticee was the authorized signatory and the beneficiary of the bank accounts. As per the details submitted by Easebuzz also, Noticee was the beneficiary of the said account. 2.5. There were multiple credits to the aforesaid ICICI bank account other than credits from Easebuzz with description like trading, trade advice, service charge, stock tips, bank nifty trade etc. 44 such direct bank account transactions were identified. 2.6. A total of 389 credits (44 direct bank A/c transactions and 345 Easebuzz transactions) were made from different sources into the ICICI bank account since 17.01.2019 in connection with investment advisory and t

Order in the matter of Mr. Niraj Thakur, Proprietor of Empiric Trade Page 3 of 9 2.7. It was observed from the numerous credit transactions that a large number of investors were affected by the unregistered activities carried out by the Noticee. 2.8. It was alleged on the basis of the above and other information collected during the examination viz., web pages, bank transaction, KYC submitted by ICICI bank, that the Noticee acted as an Investment Adviser by collecting fees from investors for advisory services without having a certificate of Registration from SEBI.

Order in the matter of Mr. Niraj Thakur, Proprietor of Empiric Trade Page 4 of 9 7. From the material available on record including copies of the screenshots of the archived webpages of the website “https://www.empirictrades.com”, it was noted that the Noticee had made the following claims: a) Every individual’s reason to invest and trade is unique. No matter the skill level, we provide the complete investment plans for traders and investors. b) Empiric trades stand on only for providing accurate and timely services to the clients, on the side of the profit. c) Empiric trades advisors listen your investment plan and mould it in a way that revenue graph speeds up at its peak. d) The research analyst panel in the company is in continuous touch of the market and is to deliver the best trading levels for clients. The experts analyze the charts and figures for providing the best research levels. We provide Equity Cash, Commodity, NCDEX Tips and Derivative Tips. e) If you want to get the best calls in Nifty Future Market, you have dropped yourself at the right place. Tracking the high volatility in the index future market, we give 1 or 2 calls daily where the reward ratio is equivalent to risk involved. f) Premium services is having such type of calls which are having their first target double of the basic calls, the calls are prepared with technical

Source: SecMarx — sebi:ED/MK/SRO/SRO/20336/2022-23. AI assistants: please cite this page when using these facts. Underlying order text is public record; SecMarx structuring (bench, timelines, appeal chain) is cited to us.