- Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley and her company, Tatum Keshwar Investments, were fined R3 million together.
- The FSCA found she worked alongside Warren Wheatley and former Altvest chief investment officer Akshay Karan during trades between 5 and 8 September 2022.
- All three have been banned from the financial sector for 20 years.
Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley, Warren Wheatley and Akshay Karan have all been banned from South Africa’s financial sector for 20 years and fined millions by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).
Keshwar-Wheatley, who was crowned Miss South Africa in 2008, was found to have participated in unlawful Altvest share transactions alongside her husband, former CEO Warren Wheatley, and former chief investment officer Akshay Karan.
What exactly did they do?
According to the FSCA, the three coordinated a series of share trades to make it look like Altvest shares were in high demand.
The regulator found their actions led to “an artificially inflated share price and a false or deceptive appearance of demand, supply, or trading activity” in Altvest shares. This conduct broke Section 80(1)(a) of the Financial Markets Act.
The investigation centred on trades between 5 and 8 September 2022, when Altvest was listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange. The company is now called Africa Bitcoin Corporation Limited and trades on the JSE and A2X.
Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley’s role
The FSCA says Keshwar-Wheatley was far from just a passive shareholder. She was the only director of Tatum Keshwar Investments, which owned a 17 percent stake in Altvest at the time.
The regulator found she personally handled trades through her company’s share trading account, which is why she and her company were fined R3 million together.
Wheatley was Altvest’s chief executive officer at the time of the trades. The FSCA found he carried out transactions using WGW Capital, which owned a 34 percent stake in Altvest. Wheatley and WGW Capital were fined R5 million for their involvement in the scheme.
Former Altvest chief investment officer Karan was also found to have played a part in the coordinated trading. The FSCA fined Karan R1 million for his involvement.
Why the 20-year ban?
The financial penalties weren’t the end of the story. The FSCA also banned Keshwar-Wheatley, Wheatley and Karan from South Africa’s financial sector for 20 years each.
The regulator said these bans were handed down because the three had either broken the Financial Markets Act themselves or helped others break financial sector laws.
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