New Delhi: An Indian investor has alleged that his US stock portfolio worth approximately Rs 3.19 crore was liquidated without his approval, with the proceeds used to purchase shares of a little-known Chinese insurance technology company, triggering a dispute between investment platform Stockal and its US brokerage partner DriveWealth.
The investor, who had been using Stockal since 2020, discovered the disputed transactions after receiving an alert about suspicious account activity on October 18. According to his complaint, 10 US stock holdings, including Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Nvidia and Alphabet, were sold on October 15 for $335,768.08.
The proceeds were subsequently used to acquire 3 lakh shares of Nasdaq-listed Zhibao Technology Inc. for $315,681.25, along with a $3,000 commission. The investor maintains that he neither authorised the sale nor approved the purchase.
Account records also show multiple subsequent adjustments involving the Zhibao shares and the original holdings. On October 19, 2,61,733 Zhibao shares were credited back to his account, while 38,267 shares remained unaccounted for in his complaint’s reconciliation.
The investor has questioned how his registered email address could have been changed without his consent and why transaction alerts were not received. He has also raised concerns about a September cybersecurity incident at DriveWealth, although no confirmed connection between that incident and the disputed trades has been established.
Stockal’s parent company, Borderless Investing, said on November 4 that an unauthorised third party appeared to have accessed 26 customer accounts using valid credentials. It denied evidence of a breach of its own systems and said no funds had been withdrawn, while investigations continued.
DriveWealth and Stockal have offered differing explanations regarding responsibility for the account activity. The investor has approached SEBI, the FBI, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA, seeking restoration of his original portfolio.
The controversy has widened, with nearly 30 investors alleging unauthorised transactions and preliminary reported losses exceeding Rs 100 crore. The overall financial impact and responsibility remain under investigation.
