Weibo big V was fined.
Recently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced a penalty letter for illegal stock recommendation by Big V. Yi Wei registered his Weibo account "Yi Wei" to advertise that he graduated from Yale University, has rich investment experience, and is a large US dollar fund manager. The content of the Weibo of the "Yiwei" account contains views on the A-share market, the development of listed companies and the stock price trend, and each Weibo has multiple fans forwarding replies. In addition, Yi Wei registered and used the Weibo accounts "Shen Shangqu" and "Gubei Laojianghu" to cooperate with the "Yi Wei" Weibo account to disseminate investment theories and investment advice.
On May 26, 2020, Yi Wei used the Weibo account "Yi Wei" to publish recruitment member information, the content of which was the sale of "Lao Yi Investment Education Small Universe" ferry tickets and related contact information. From May 26, 2020 to March 15, 2021, a total of 534 people joined the Yiwei Investment Advisory Group and actually paid membership fees to the designated receiving bank account of Yiwei. Yi Wei's total revenue was about 24 million yuan.
The CSRC confiscated about 24 million yuan of Yi Wei's illegal income from securities investment consulting and imposed a fine of 20 million yuan. Brokerage China reporters noticed that Yiwei Weibo has 376,000 followers. The latest Weibo post is September 11, 2022.
Engaging in securities investment consulting business without approval
In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Securities Law, the CSRC filed a case for investigation and trial of Yi Wei's illegal securities investment consulting behavior, and informed the parties of the facts, reasons and basis for the administrative punishment and the rights enjoyed by the parties in accordance with the law. At the request of the parties, the SFC held a hearing on 19 August 2022 to hear the statements and defenses of the parties and their representatives. The case has now been investigated and the trial has been concluded.
From May 26, 2020 to March 15, 2021, Yi Wei did not obtain approval to engage in securities investment consulting business, and did not have securities investment consulting qualifications and business qualifications.
On Weibo and WeChat, the stock recommendation earned 24 million
On May 26, 2020, Yi Wei used the Weibo account "Yi Wei" to publish recruitment member information, the content of which was the sale of "Lao Yi Investment Education Small Universe" ferry tickets and related contact information. Yi Wei provides securities consulting services such as recommending individual stocks, forecasting market quotations, and guiding operations through Weibo and WeChat.
Investment advisory services via mass mailings. Weekly mass emails are sent to some paid members, including their views on listed companies and related stocks, specific purchase price recommendations, and their own holdings.
Provide investment consulting services to individual paying members through WeChat. Yi Wei communicates with individual paying members individually through WeChat, answers investment questions raised by members, analyzes and evaluates members' trading behaviors, and puts forward operation suggestions for stock trading.
Provide investment advice publicly through Weibo. Yi Wei registered his Weibo account "Yi Wei" to advertise that he graduated from Yale University, has rich investment experience, and is a large US dollar fund manager. The content of the Weibo of the "Yiwei" account contains views on the A-share market, the development of listed companies and the stock price trend, and each Weibo has multiple fans forwarding replies. In addition, Yi Wei registered and used the Weibo accounts "Shen Shangqu" and "Gubei Laojianghu" to cooperate with the "Yi Wei" Weibo account to disseminate investment theories and investment advice.
Provide investment advice publicly through WeChat Moments. Yi Wei used the WeChat accounts "Captain Lao Yi", "Lao Yi" and "Yu Ye" to post a circle of friends, put forward clear investment suggestions for stocks, and answered questions from WeChat friends in the circle of friends.
According to the penalty letter, from May 26, 2020 to March 15, 2021, a total of 534 people joined the Yiwei Investment Advisory Group and actually paid membership fees to the bank account designated by Yiwei. Yi Wei's total revenue was about 24 million yuan.
The penalty letter stated that the above facts were proved by evidence such as Weibo account information, data screenshots, email data, capital flow, and record of inquiries, which were sufficient to be determined.
Argue that it is a payment for knowledge
The CSRC held that Yi Wei's above-mentioned conduct violated the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 160 of the Securities Law and Articles 3 and 12 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Securities and Futures Investment Consulting (hereinafter referred to as the "Interim Measures"), and constituted an act of "engaging in securities and futures investment consulting business as provided for in Article 2 of these Measures without the permission of the CSRC" as mentioned in Article 32 of the Interim Measures.
During and after the hearing, Yi Wei and his representative put forward the following defenses.
First, the subject of the violation is not Yi Wei personally but a company. Second, the content of email consultation is knowledge payment, not securities investment consultation. Yi Wei did not charge anyone for the information sent by WeChat, Weibo and WeChat Moments, and exchanging shares with individual members was not a performance of relevant contractual obligations. Third, the investigation did not collect evidence from the paid members, and the questionnaires provided by the parties showed that the paid members did not believe that the services provided by Yi Wei were securities investment consulting. Fourth, as of the time of the CSRC's investigation, a total of 13 members had refunded fees, which should not be included in the illegal gains. Fifth, the Securities Law cannot be applied to the Interim Measures in this case, but only the Interim Measures, but the CSRC is not the applicable subject of the Interim Measures. In summary, it is requested that Yi Wei not be punished.
After review, the SFC is of the view that:
First, Yi Wei used his personal influence to recruit paid members, not in the name of the company, the acts involved in the case could not reflect the will of the unit, and the illegal income ultimately belonged to Yi Wei personally, so the illegal subject was Yi Wei personally and not the company.
Secondly, Yi Wei used Weibo to publicly release securities investment advice to promote the recruitment of members, and then regularly sent group emails containing investment advice to paid members every week, and added WeChat separately with paid members to provide investment advice through private messages or moments. On the whole, the aforementioned series of activities constitute securities investment consulting.
Third, the content of Yi Wei's mass emails to members includes views on listed companies and related stocks, specific purchase times, purchase price suggestions and the stocks held by himself, which objectively constitutes securities investment consultation.
Fourth, the parties and their agents did not submit evidence related to the member's refund, and the CSRC had eliminated the amount corresponding to the member's refund based on the evidence in the case when calculating the illegal gains.
Finally, at the time of the issuance of the Interim Measures, the background of the separation of local securities regulatory offices and the CSRC had changed, and the relevant functions performed by local securities regulatory offices had been merged into the CSRC. Therefore, the CSRC has the power to apply the relevant provisions of the Interim Measures. In summary, the punishment of Yi Wei is maintained.
The CSRC stated that according to the facts, nature, circumstances and degree of social harm of the parties' illegal acts, it decided to confiscate about 24 million yuan of Yi Wei's illegal income from securities investment consulting and impose a fine of 20 million yuan in accordance with Article 32 of the Interim Measures.