Sanjiv Bhasin: Sebi bars Sanjiv Bhasin and 11 others for alleged stock manipulation

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday barred Sanjiv Bhasin, a former director at IIFL Securities, and 11 others for their alleged involvement in stock manipulation. Sebi in an ex-parte interim order alleged that Bhasin while being associated with IIFL Securities used to provide stock recommendations on media channels and Telegram.

Its investigation revealed that, prior to his appearances on media channels, Bhasin would first buy securities himself, then would recommend the same securities to public on news channels. Once prices of securities increased after his recommendations, Bhasin would sell the securities and make a profit. Sebi alleged that Bhasin manipulated the prices of securities and made ill-gotten gains. It has directed them to disgorge ill-gotten gains of ₹11.37 crore.

In June last year, Sebi conducted a search and seizure operation across multiple locations in NCR (national capital region) which led to discovery of critical evidence including WhatsApp chats and audio recordings that revealed the modus operandi used by Bhasin in operating the fraudulent scheme of creating contrary position of his own recommendations in the form of BTST (buy today sell tomorrow). The regulator’s probe also revealed that Lalit Bhasin, a cousin of Sanjiv assisted him at times in placing the alleged fraudulent trades.