Baap of Chart: Bans by SEBI from the securities market
What has happened?
So-called “finfluencers”—Internet fininfluencers who provide financial advice and recommendations to ordinary investors—continue to be reined in.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday, October 25, barred Mohammad Naseeruddin Ansari, who owns a firm called “Father of Charts”, from buying, selling, or dealing in the securities market.
On the pretext of imparting educational training related to the securities market, Ansari was giving stock recommendations to investors through social media platforms promising guaranteed returns.
SEBI also ordered Ansari to return Rs. 17.2 crore was earned by misleading investors and influencing them to trade in securities.
Who is Mohammad Nasiruddin Ansari?
Ansari is the sole owner of the Baap of Charts (BoC) firm.
He promoted himself as a stock market expert on various social media platforms and invited investors/clients to enroll in various educational courses offered by him. He allegedly promised innocent investors some returns or close to profits if they followed his recommendations or advice to invest in the securities market.
How did he work?
SEBI found that Ansari was giving stock recommendations like buy or sell through Baap of charts on various social media platforms like YouTube, X(Tweeter), Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
It asked investors to enroll in educational courses offered through websites and apps available on Google Play and Apple's App Store, a platform provided by Bunch Microtechnologies Private Limited.
Sebi said Ansari was selling 19 courses related to the securities market, including four courses guaranteeing returns to investors.
SEBI found that through the chat functionality available on the Bunch platform, students were connected with teachers who shared information, documents, and content and interacted in real-time.
The investigation also found that Ansari made buy-sell recommendations to private groups of his investors or clients.
The amount collected from the investors was deposited in the bank accounts of Ansari, BoC, Golden Syndicate Ventures Pvt Ltd, and P Rahul Rao.
Golden Syndicate Ventures Private Limited is a company in which Ansari is a significant shareholder.
SEBI named four other directors of Golden Syndicate Ventures Private Limited, Asif Iqbal Wani, Tabrez Abdullah, Mansha Abdullah and Vamshi Jadhav, who were also allegedly involved in undisclosed investment advisory activities.
Money was also deposited in the accounts of these four persons.
How many subscribers?
Ansari's YouTube channel has over 4.43 lakh subscribers and over 7 crore views.
He also runs a Telegram group/channel called Baap of Chart Option Hedging, which has around 53,000 members.
Baap of Chart's Instagram and X accounts have 59,000 and 78,000 followers respectively, Sebi said.
There are 13,000 followers on his WhatsApp channel.
SEBI said Ansari continued to issue buy-sell recommendations to members till the first week of October 2023.
Apart from providing online educational courses, Ansari also conducts physical workshops in various cities to educate investors about the securities market.
How much money did he make?
In SEBI's investigation, From courses/workshops listed on Bunch's platform and mobile apps, Ansari paid Rs. 13.78 crore.
The entire amount is considered to be fees received from fraudulent and unregistered investment advisory firms, SEBI said.
Besides Rs. 3.42 crore through two UPI IDs linked to Ansari and Baap of Chart accounts in Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The UPI ID was released on the website and social media handles.
SEBI said the notices collected Rs 17.2 crore from January 2021 to July 2023 by misleading or giving false information to customers and investors to purchase his courses and workshops, by adding them to his closed groups, and by including or influencing them to make transactions securities.
What SEBI has said?
In its interim order, SEBI accused Ansari/Baap of Charts of describing their consultancy activities as academic in nature.
The drama and showmanship in the trailer video on YouTube released by Ansari/Baap of Charts is intended to lure gullible and uninformed viewers into its ranks by creating an illusion of unnatural returns and thereby induce them to trade in the securities market, SEBI said.
Prima facie, at its core, the alleged activity is fraudulent.
To protect the interests of investors and the integrity of the securities market, SEBI has asked Ansari and others to stop using father of charts or otherwise acting as investment advisers or themselves acting as investment advisers.
Ansari, Rahul Rao and Golden Syndicate Ventures from directly or indirectly buying, selling, or dealing in securities and receiving Rs. 17.2 Deposits are withheld.
Crore within 15 days in the Escrow Account of Scheduled Commercial Bank.
Lessons for investors
Investors should exercise caution when consulting online investment advisors.
They should only deal with advisers who have obtained a certificate of registration from SEBI.
To protect the interests of investors, SEBI has laid down specific conditions for the registration of investment advisers, their educational qualifications, and code of conduct.
Currently, there are 1,313 SEBI-registered investment advisers.

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