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Asmita Patel, a YouTuber and financial influencer who portrays herself as the ‘She Wolf of the Stock Market’ and the ‘Options Queen’, is facing Sebi’s heat for alleged unregistered investment advisory services.
YouTube and finfluencer Asmita Patel. (Photo: Screengrab/ YouTube)
Asmita Patel, a YouTuber and financial influencer who portrays herself as the ‘She Wolf of the Stock Market’ and the ‘Options Queen’, is facing Sebi’s heat for alleged unregistered investment advisory services. She, along with five other entities, have been directed by the capital markets regulator to disgorge over Rs 53 crore collected as fees from participants for various courses on stock markets.
Apart from Asmit Patel, the other five entities are — her firm Asmita Patel Global School of Trading Pvt Ltd (APGSOT), Jitesh Jethalal Patel, King Traders, Gemini Enterprise, and United Enterprises.
Who Is Asmita Patel?
Asmita Jitesh Patel is the director of Navi Mumbai-based financial education company Asmita Patel Global School of Trading Private Limited (AGSTPL).
Born into a traditional Gujarati family, she has 17 years of trading experience and over a decade of teaching, earning multiple awards for her contributions to financial education.
Popularly known as the “She Wolf of the Stock Market” and the “Options Queen,” Patel claims to have mentored over one lakh students worldwide.
A prominent financial influencer, she maintains a strong digital presence through her website, asmitapatel.com, and has a significant following across social media platforms, including 5.26 lakh YouTube subscribers, 2.9 lakh Instagram followers, 73,000 Facebook followers, 1,900 LinkedIn connections, and 4,200 Twitter (X) followers.
Her husband, Jitesh Patel, also serves as a director at AGSTPL. Reports suggest that some course participants were asked to pay their fees into bank accounts linked to three firms—King Traders, Gemini Enterprise, and United Enterprises—connected to the couple.
Now, following complaints from 42 investors on unauthorised investment advisory activities, Sebi through an interim order cum show cause notice passed on February 6 prohibited six entities, including Asmita Patel Global School of Trading Pvt Ltd (APGSOT), Asmita Jitesh Patel, Jitesh Jethalal Patel, King Traders, Gemini Enterprise and United Enterprises, from the capital market.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has also asked the six entities to explain why another Rs 104.63 crore should not be collected as fees for various programmes and should not be seized as well, according to a Sebi order.
What’s the Case?
The case pertains to individuals enrolling in trading courses provided by Asmita Patel Global School Of Trading. The Sebi order said that they were misled by exaggerated promises of profits and forced into paying high fees for minimal or ineffective trading education.
Asmita has mentored over one lakh students/investors/participants worldwide. As per the complainants, she has assets to the tune of Rs 140 crore using her proprietary system.
The regulator noted that each entity has played specific roles at various stages which have prima facie, been found to violate Sebi’s rules.
Further, Sebi revealed that, prima facie APGSOT along with the Asmita and Jitesh devised a scheme wherein students/investors/participants were lured to trade in specific stocks and told to open a trading account with ABC Ltd.
Recommendations of buy/sell of specific securities were provided and uploaded on telegram channels owned by APGSOT. The acts of the entity make it evident that it was providing investment advice/ research analyst services to students/investors/participants for consideration in the pretext of imparting education, the 129-page order said.
The regulator also pointed out that the APGSOT collected fees from course participants through King Traders, Gemini Enterprise and United Enterprises directing them to pay the course fees to the bank accounts of these entities.
According to Sebi, this was not a one-time arrangement but a regular practice followed by the Asmita Patel Global School of Trading to route funds through different entities.
According to Sebi, APGSOT was allegedly providing stock buy/sell recommendations through private telegram channels, Zoom meetings, and emails, besides offering educational courses. The probe aimed to determine whether APGSOT was offering investment services without the necessary Sebi’s registration, as mandated under Investment Adviser (IA) rules.
How Much Asmita Patel Charged For A Course?
The 42 complainants said that they were sold different courses — Master’s in Price Action Trading (MPAT), Let’s Make India Trade (LMIT), Options Multiplier (OM), Trend Following Income System (TFIS), The Freedom Project (TFP), OneLife, Unleash The Trader Within (UTW).
Asmita Patel charged as much as Rs 7 lakh (excluding tax). It will be around Rs 8.25 lakh per course including GST.
According to the Sebi order, “It was informed that MPAT course fee is INR 7 lakh plus tax, where one lakh was to be given immediately and remaining six lakhs in three instalments, first at the start of the course on 2nd October 2021 and remaining on 2nd Nov and 2nd December.”
