Finfluencer Who Supposedly Earned Fortune From Stock Trading Caught Running ₹300 Crore Drug Racket

Social media is flooded with traders who claim to be experts based on their experience in the stock markets to dole out investment advise as finfluencers. But recently the Securities and Exchange Board of India started monitoring financial influencers after cases of such analysts misleading investors were reported.

One such finfluencer who claimed that he had made a bulk of his fortune by trading stocks, has been exposed as the mastermind of a Rs 300-crore drug racket.

Madhya Pradesh police have issued lookout notices for finfluencer Ashesh Mehta and his wife as the duo is on the run with Rs 170 crore generated from the drug trade.

Dubious off market dealings

The self-proclaimed entrepreneur and index option buyer had shared his trading P&L statement last month, showing a profit of Rs 2.43 crore.

Mehta's drug racket was exposed by a courier company employee who noticed something suspicious while delivering parcels for the couple.

Among other posts about stock trading, Mehta's pinned tweet mentioned how a trader's off-market activities also matter as much as their skills in the stock exchanges.

With 24,000 followers on Twitter, Mehta is a well known financial influencer who has also been a mascot for office space provider WeWork India, and had promoted the startup couple of years back.