sebi:WTM/ASB/WRO/WRO/22593/2022-23

SEBI · SEBI · 2013-10-18 · Ashwani Bhatia, Whole Time Member

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

Facts / Headnote

Noticees restrained from accessing securities market for 5 years (with set-off for period under Interim Order); directed to resolve pending complaints within 30 days and file report within 3 months; assets and holdings frozen; certificate of registration surrender to be dealt with after compliance.

Provisions invoked

• s. 19
• s. 12A
• s. 12

Regulations

• Reg. 3
• Reg. 2(1)(c)
• Reg. 16
• Reg. 17
• Reg. 15
• Reg. 3(a)
• Reg. 15(1)
• Reg. 28
• Reg. 15(9)
• Reg. 35
• Reg. 16(e)
• Reg. 16(a)

Parties

• Trifid Research
• Mr. Vivek Tyagi
• Ms. Lidya Thomas

Holding

The SEBI Whole Time Member held Trifid Research and its partners liable for violations of the IA Regulations (risk profiling, suitability, fair fees, Code of Conduct) and directed a 5-year restraint from the securities market, resolution of pending complaints, and continued freezing of assets.

Full text

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Order in the matter of Trifid Research Page 2 of 41 circulars and guidelines framed thereunder. During the inspection, documents/information pertaining to KYC, Risk Profiling, Risk Profiling acceptance by client, change in risk profiling, Product List, Client Master, Invoices, emails, audio call recordings, agreements, SMS logs, employees list, Compliance audit report, NISM certification, website of Trifid, etc., were verified on a sample basis. Further, documents/information provided by the complainants in SCORES were also examined. Based on inspection / examination of documents / information provided by Trifid, it was inter alia observed that:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Order in the matter of Trifid Research Page 3 of 41 above, had, prima facie, violated the provisions of Section 12A(a), (b) and (c) of the SEBI Act, 1992, and Regulations 3 (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the PFUTP Regulations.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Order in the matter of Trifid Research Page 4 of 41 (b) to cease and desist from acting as an investment advisor including the activity of acting and representing through any media (physical or digital) as an investment advisor, directly or indirectly, and cease to solicit or undertake such activity or any other activities in the securities market, directly or indirectly, in any matter whatsoever; (c) not to divert any funds collected from investors, kept in bank account(s) and/or in their custody; (d) to provide a full inventory of all assets held in their name, whether movable or immovable, or any interest or investment or charge on any of such assets, including details of all bank accounts, demat accounts and mutual fund investments, immediately but not later than 5 working days from the date of receipt of this order; (e) not to dispose of or alienate any assets, whether movable or immovable, or any interest or investment or charge on any of such assets held in the name of Trifid, including money lying in bank accounts except with the prior permission of SEBI; (f) to immediately withdraw and remove all advertisements, representations, literatures, brochures, materials, publications, documents, communications etc., in digital mode or otherwise, in relation to its investment advisory activity or any other activity in the securities market; (g) to remove all cont

Source: SecMarx — sebi:WTM/ASB/WRO/WRO/22593/2022-23. 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.