Sebi fines 15 entities for duping investors to make Rs 2.09 cr profit

India’s Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) has fined multiple entities up to INR80,000 ($1,117) for impersonating a brokerage firm and creating artificial volumes in the Kapil Raj Finance scrip through SMS tips. The investigation found that at least 15 people had sent misleading messages between January and April 2018 in an attempt to benefit from the high trading volumes they induced in the stock price. Forty-nine entities had been issued preferential allotments in May 2014, of which 15 had sold around 13.87 lakh shares for an average price of INR25, making a profit of INR2.09 crore through such sales.