SAT reserves order in Jane Street case over access to SEBI documents

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Wednesday reserved its order in the Jane Street case, in which the trading giant has sought additional documents and information from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to prepare its response to the market regulator's July 3, 2025 interim ex-parte order. Both SEBI and Jane Street informed the tribunal that they had filed their written submissions following arguments in the matter. The tribunal took note of the submissions and 'reserved' its order for pronouncement. Jane Street had approached SAT in September 2025, alleging that SEBI had not provided certain data, documents and communications with the NSE that could help it respond to the regulator's allegations. The present proceedings concern the disclosure of documents and are not on the merits of SEBI's allegations in its interim order. During the hearing at tribunal Jane Street has denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that its transactions were part of a trading strategy. It has also claimed that it had sought clarification from the exchange and the regulator on its strategy but did not receive the required responses before SEBI passed the ex-parte order, which it said damaged its reputation. Also read: After SEBI, ED crackdown against 'pump and dump' operators, ED raids 29 premises in 6 cities The trading firm has also cited an internal SEBI surveillance note that, according to its submissions, found that the regulator's surveillance department could not establish that the group had influenced Bank Nifty prices in a direction favourable to its derivatives positions. Jane Street claimed that the note recommended that the matter not be pursued further and questioned why SEBI subsequently proceeded with a fresh investigation. SEBI, on the other hand, told the tribunal that it had provided Jane Street with more than 10 GB of data related to the case. The regulator maintained that it was not obliged to share information on which it had not relied during the investigation. SEBI accused Jane Street of attempting to delay the proceedings by seeking additional material instead of addressing the allegations. The regulator argued that the trading firm was trying to 'investigate the investigator'. During the proceedings, SEBI also explained its allegations that Jane Street and related entities adopted manipulative trading strategies on Bank Nifty expiry days. SEBI said, in one instance, the regulator alleged that the entities bought around Rs 4,370 crore worth of Bank Nifty constituent shares over approximately two hours while simultaneously taking a bearish options position worth around Rs 32,114 crore. They subsequently sold the shares, causing prices to fall, while the bearish options position gained in value, SEBI alleged. In its July 3, 2025 interim order, SEBI alleged that Jane Street and related entities manipulated Bank Nifty and other indices through coordinated trading in constituent stocks and derivatives. It estimated the alleged unlawful gains at Rs 4,843.57 crore and directed the group to deposit the amount in an escrow account. Jane Street deposited the amount while denying the allegations. Also read: SEBI forms working group to review mainboard IPO, FPO and other issuance regulations