US trading firm Jane Street has filed a case against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) today, SEBI had accused the New York-based high-frequency trading giant of market manipulations, a case petition reviewed by Moneycontrol showed.
All the four entities named in Jane Street Group interim order of July 3 of SEBI have filed the appeal in the matter, which has been listed for hearing on September 8.
In the petition, seen by Moneycontrol, Jane Street Group entities have prayed for a direction to SEBI to provide full and free inspection of documents. The nature of the information Jane Street is seeking relates to investigations of the firm’s trading conducted by the NSE in November 2024 and by SEBI’s Integrated Surveillance Department (ISD) in December 2024.
Jane Street mentioned that SEBI’s own Integrated Surveillance Department (ISD) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) had previously concluded there was no manipulation. Despite these findings, SEBI formed a new team and reversed its stance without explanation. Jane Street also sought directions to SEBI not to take any further action till the disposal of the appeal.
In its appeal, Jane Street alleged that orders had been passed mechanically by SEBI. In the petition, Jane Street alleged, “In more than 90 percent of the patches, it could not be established that the trading activity of Jane Street Group has been attributed to the price movement of the constituents/index in a way that has benefited the open positions of other Group members in the derivatives segment."
The petition further said, "Even more significantly, the ISD Report found that the Jane Street entities’ profit pattern contradicted any manipulation theory. For the remaining 5 patches, the ISD Report shows that although index prices moved in favor of the Jane Street entities’ options positions, the resulting profits were negligible in the context of the Jane Street entities’ other trading.”
Jane Street said that while preparing its formal response to the interim order, it was entitled to review documents from SEBI’s preliminary investigation. However, during this process, the firm discovered that certain documents and communications it considered relevant had not been made available for inspection. Its counsel raised the issue with SEBI, which subsequently shared some, but not all, of the missing records. The appeal filed on Wednesday seeks a direction from SAT, asking SEBI to provide access to the remaining materials.
In its appeal, Jane Street further said, “The impugned orders have been issued in gross derogation of the provisions of the SEBI Act and of the ratio of numerous judgments of various courts, including the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, the Hon'ble Bombay High Court, and this Hon'ble Tribunal. The impugned orders have been passed by the respondent in complete contravention of the well-settled principles of equity, justice, and good conscience.”
In its interim order issued on July 3, 2025, SEBI alleged index manipulation by the Jane Street Group and imposed severe restrictions, including a demand to deposit over Rs 4,843 crore in an escrow account, which Jane Street complied with.
Jane Street Group decliend to comment on the issue.
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