Sebi cracks down on 'pump & dump' YouTube schemes – The Economic Times

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday came down heavily on YouTube channel creators for manipulating stocks of listed companies by engaging in a “pump and dump” schemes.The regulator in two separate orders barred 55 entities including actors Arshad Warsi and his wife Maria Goretti from the securities market for alleged price manipulation through YouTube and subsequently offloading the inflated shares of Sadhna Broadcast and Sharpline Broadcast.Sebi said a nexus of 31 players made unlawful gains of ₹41.85 crore in Sadhna Broadcast case, while 24 players have allegedly gained ₹12.14 crore in Sharpline Broadcast, which it has directed to be impounded.Arshad Warsi and his wife made a profit of ₹29.43 lakh and ₹37.56 lakh, respectively. Sebi has termed the roles of them in the scheme as ‘volume creator’ and ‘profit maker’.The regulator said it received certain complaints alleging that misleading YouTube videos with false content, backed by a large marketing campaign for additional reach, were being uploaded to lure investors. Once these unsuspecting investors entered the stock, the said entities allegedly offloaded their holding at an inflated price.These entities would upload false and misleading news about the said companies on the video streaming platform. These channels
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