sebi:Order/SBM/VS/2021-22/15201

SEBI · SEBI · 2021-07-27 · Suresh B Menon, Adjudicating Officer

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Facts / Headnote

Penalty imposed on the Noticee for violation of PFUTP Regulations

Provisions invoked

• s. 15
• s. 19
• s. 15H
• s. 15J
• s. 28A

Regulations

• Reg. 3
• Reg. 4(1)
• Reg. 3(a)

Parties

• Adarsh Agarwalla

Holding

The Adjudicating Officer held that Adarsh Agarwalla violated regulation 3(a), 4(1) and 4(2)(a) of the PFUTP Regulations, 2003 by executing reversal/non-genuine trades in illiquid stock options at BSE, and imposed a penalty of ₹5,00,000 under section 15HA of the SEBI Act.

Full text

___________________________________________________________________________ Adjudication order in respect of Adarsh Agarwalla in the matter of dealing in Illiquid Stock Options at BSE Page 2 of 11 misleading appearance of trading in terms of creation /generation of artificial volume in the Stock Options segment at BSE and therefore, it is alleged that the Noticee has violated the provisions of regulations 3(a), (b), (c), (d) and regulation 4(1), 4(2) (a) of the SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices relating to Securities Markets) Regulations, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as ‘PFUTP Regulations’). In view of the above reasons, adjudication proceedings have been initiated against the Noticee under the provisions of section 15 HA of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (hereinafter referred to as ‘SEBI Act’).

___________________________________________________________________________ Adjudication order in respect of Adarsh Agarwalla in the matter of dealing in Illiquid Stock Options at BSE Page 3 of 11 c. It is observed from the table above that the trades entered by the Noticee in the contract of “TATP15FEB95.00CE” on February 19, 2015, with its counterparty viz. PURBANCHAL PRESTRESSED LIMITED were reversed between the Noticee and the same counterparty on the same day resulting in reversal of trades which are, prima facie, considered to be as non-genuine. Therefore, in the process artificial volume in the stock option contract at BSE has been generated by the Noticee through such non-genuine trades. From the table above, it is observed that the artificial volume created as no. of units reversed in non-genuine trades is 3,20,000 units comprising both volume of initial trade and volume of reversal trade, while not considering the volume which is not reversed. In the process, it is observed that the Noticee had made a profit of ₹3,36,000/-. d. It is further observed from the trade data of the Noticee that it has allegedly entered into non-genuine trades in 1 contracts wherein he executed a total of 5 trades all of which were, prima facie, non-genuine trades. In view of this, it is alleged that such fraudulent trades of the Noticee had resulted into creation of artificial volume of total 3,20,000 units. e. In this regard, details of all the alleged non-genuine trades of the Noticee i

___________________________________________________________________________ Adjudication order in respect of Adarsh Agarwalla in the matter of dealing in Illiquid Stock Options at BSE Page 4 of 11

Source: SecMarx — sebi:Order/SBM/VS/2021-22/15201. 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.