Latest news with #BCFSA
CTV News
03-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
B.C. woman used Personal Real Estate Corporation to make $500K loan to spouse, violating rules
Houses are shown in Vancouver on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press) A B.C. real estate agent has agreed to pay more than $50,000 to a provincial regulator after admitting to two separate instances of misconduct involving her common-law spouse. Rui Liang, also known as Rena Liang, entered a consent order agreement with the B.C. Financial Services Authority over the misconduct last month. The document was published online last week. In it, Liang and her Personal Real Estate Corporation agree to pay the BCFSA a $50,000 administrative penalty and $5,000 in enforcement expenses. According to the consent order, a $5-million mortgage was registered against a Vancouver property in favour of Liang's company – referred to throughout the decision as 'RL PREC' – in February 2019. The mortgage amount was mistakenly registered an order of magnitude higher than it was intended to be, the document indicates, describing it as a 'spousal loan' of $500,000 to Liang's common-law spouse Peter Ho Chiu Chu. The loan was related to a house the couple was building, and Chu was the registered owner of the property, according to the consent order. Under B.C.'s Real Estate Services Act and its associated regulations, Personal Real Estate Corporations are not allowed to 'conduct any business other than the provision of real estate services and ancillary services directly associated with the provision of real estate services,' the consent order reads. By allowing a mortgage to be registered in favour of RL PREC, Liang and her corporation violated this rule. 'In April 2022, the mortgage was transferred from RL PREC to Ms. Liang personally and the amount of the mortgage was amended to $500,000,' the consent order reads. The other misconduct Liang and RL PREC admitted to in the document also stemmed from their relationship to Chu. According to the consent order, Chu has been the owner of a company called '168 Rock Solid Homes' since it was incorporated in 2008. The company began providing rental property management services 'in or around 2012,' despite not being licensed to do so, the document indicates. 'Ms. Liang knew that neither Mr. Chu nor Rock Solid Homes was licensed to provide rental property management services, nor exempt from the requirement to be licensed,' the consent order reads. Despite this knowledge, Liang directed the successful applicant for a rental home in West Vancouver to get in touch with Chu, who the property owner had hired to manage the property, according to the consent order. This constituted facilitating or supporting unlicensed property management, which is 'conduct unbecoming' under the Real Estate Services Act, Liang admitted in the document. In addition to the $55,000 in penalties she and RL PREC agreed to pay in the consent order, Liang also agreed to complete the Real Estate Trading Services Remedial Education Course at UBC's Sauder School of Business, according to the consent order. Liang and her corporation have no previous discipline history with the BCFSA, the document notes.
CTV News
31-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Incarcerated former mortgage broker agrees to pay B.C. regulator $35K over misconduct
A real estate sign is posted outside a home in Pointe-Claire, a city in Montreal's West Island, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press) A former B.C. mortgage broker has agreed to pay a $35,000 administrative penalty for failing to report a misleading mortgage application submitted in his name by his ex-wife. Siavash Ahmadi was registered as a submortgage broker from May 2019 until October 2022, according to a consent order he signed with the BC Financial Services Authority earlier this month. The document details the misconduct that led to the fine, the principal instance of which began in March 2020. According to the consent order, Ahmadi met with the prospective buyer of a Vancouver condo around that time, but determined that the buyer would not qualify for a mortgage, and declined to file an application for them. Ahmadi then travelled to Iran for two months. While he was away, his then-wife Ksenia Ivanova submitted a mortgage application for the client, using Ahmadi's Filogix account. Filogix is a software platform that connects mortgage brokers and lenders, according to the BCFSA. 'After returning from Iran, S. Ahmadi discovered (the client's) application had been submitted and been approved,' consent order reads. 'He also discovered at that time that the documents submitted in support of the application differed from the documents he had reviewed earlier and were inaccurate.' The consent order indicates Ivanova filed the application without Ahmadi's knowledge or approval. Ivanova was also a registered submortgage broker from 2015 to 2020. In a separate consent order signed last year, she, too, was fined $35,000 for using Ahmadi's account to submit misleading applications. Ivanova was also one of 23 people penalized for working with fake mortgage broker Jay Kanth Chaudhary. She is banned from reapplying for registration as a mortgage broker for 10 years. When Ahmadi got back from Iran, there were still a few days left before the transaction Ivanova had submitted was due to be completed, according to the consent order. Despite this, however, Ahmadi 'made no attempts to cancel the application or inform the lender, despite knowing the documents that supported the application were not accurate,' the consent order reads. It also notes that Ahmadi 'accepted financial documentation for his clients from third parties' without meeting with the clients directly on 'at least some of' eight other mortgage applications filed through his Filogix account from January 2020 through January 2021. The documents he received on behalf of each of the eight borrowers 'were not genuine and showed an income that was higher than the borrower's true reported earnings,' according to the consent order. All of this amounted to conducting mortgage business 'in a manner prejudicial to the public interest,' Ahmadi admitted in the document. In addition to the $35,000 administrative penalty, Ahmadi also agreed to pay $3,500 in 'investigation costs' to the BCFSA. 'BCFSA is committed to ensuring integrity in the mortgage services industry and will not hesitate to take action against those who compromise the public interest,' said Jon Vandall, the agency's senior vice-president of compliance and enforcement, in a news release about the case. 'The substantial administrative penalty of $35,000 reflects the severity of Ahmadi's actions and serves as a clear message that such misconduct will not be tolerated.' According to the consent order, Ahmadi 'is currently incarcerated for a significant period of time' as a result of convictions unrelated to his financial misconduct as a mortgage broker. While the document does not specify the crimes for which Ahmadi was convicted, a man by that name was sentenced earlier this year for offences stemming from a June 2023 standoff with police on a highway off-ramp in West Vancouver. He received a global sentence of four years – minus credit for time already served – for reckless discharge of a firearm and possession of a loaded or restricted firearm, as well as a $1,000 fine and a two-year driving ban for impaired driving.
CBC
06-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Ponzi scheme victims name Royal Bank, B.C. financial services regulator in class action lawsuit
Social Sharing Three men who lost money investing with Ponzi schemer Greg Martel have filed a class action lawsuit against the Royal Bank of Canada, the British Columbia Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), Martel and the company through which he ran his multi-million dollar financial fraud. Representative plaintiffs Dustin Frank Renz, David Cumby and Andy Todd Wilson allege in a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court that both the Royal Bank and the BCFSA are liable for losses suffered by 1,229 investors who lost money to Martel because the two entities, despite having clear regulatory duties, failed to detect or prevent Martel's misconduct. "These failures — by the bank responsible for processing the majority of investor funds, and the regulator responsible for supervising the mortgage broker— enabled the [Ponzi] scheme to persist unchecked for years, resulting in massive and avoidable investor losses," reads the claim. According to Meldon Ellis, the lawyer representing the three men, Wilson's net losses to Martel amounted to $100,000, Renz's $38,000, and Cumby's $20,800. "The plaintiffs allege that the scheme could not have resulted in such extensive losses without the involvement — and badge of credibility — provided by a major bank and a licensed regulator," said Ellis in an email to CBC. None of the allegations have been tested in court, and the defendants have not yet filed responses. CBC reached out to RBC and BCFSA for comment on the class action. RBC said it was unable to comment on the lawsuit while it is before the court. BCFSA told CBC that after receiving complaints about Martel in 2017 and 2021, it "conducted investigations and determined, based on the evidence, that there was no misconduct within BCFSA's jurisdiction under the Mortgage Brokers Act." If certified, the class action will automatically include the other 1,226 investors who, like the representative plaintiffs, were also "net losers" in the Ponzi — in other words, all the investors who received less money back than they put in. Martel disappeared as his company, My Mortgage Auction Corp. (MMAC), was collapsing in 2023, and his whereabouts remain unknown. Authorities in Canada and the U.S. have issued warrants for Martel's arrest related to contempt of court, but Martel has not been criminally charged, and an investigation by the B.C. Securities Commission is ongoing. Last year, court receivership and bankruptcy proceedings heard that the bridge loans Martel was peddling never existed, and that — in classic Ponzi fashion — early investors in his scheme had been paid off with money put in by investors who joined later. All told, Martel was found to have taken in $301 million and paid out $210 million in the scheme. The remaining $91 million was diverted to pay for his lavish lifestyle, to his failed car-share business, and to losses he suffered trading options, according to analysis by court-appointed receiver and bankruptcy trustee PricewaterhouseCoopers. According to court documents, the three representative plaintiffs were introduced to MMAC in 2022 and 2023, in what would have been a short time before Martel's financial house of cards started collapsing. The three men invested in bridge loans advertised on the MMAC online portal that promised interest of between nine and 14 per cent over terms of four months or less. The men were directed to wire their funds to the MMAC account at the Royal Bank branch at 3541 Blanshard St. in Victoria. That was the last they saw of their money. The claim says that RBC, as a reporting entity under the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act, was required to establish internal controls, verify client identities, monitor account activity and report suspicious transactions. The lawsuit alleges there were multiple red flags with Martel and MMAC, including "high-volume investor deposits inconsistent with a mortgage brokerage business, circular fund flows characteristic of round-tripping, and account activity inconsistent with the provision of legitimate mortgage lending services." According to online references, "round-tripping" involves financial transactions with little or no economic value that can artificially manipulate an entity's financial records. Regarding the BCFSA, the claim alleges that the agency conducted only "superficial investigations" in 2017 and 2021 when it received complaints about Martel. "These complaints raised concerns which, if properly investigated, could have exposed the ongoing fraudulent scheme," reads the claim. The BCFSA is a Crown provincial agency responsible for regulating and overseeing the financial services sector, including mortgage brokers. The lawsuit is seeking to be certified as a class action and is seeking general and specific damages.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Experts warn new factor could devastate home values: 'A potential disaster in slow motion'
Rising sea levels are projected to put some prime waterfront properties underwater in British Columbia, Canada. Coastal flooding caused by rising global temperatures may place more homes in jeopardy and trigger a dramatic drop in property values. There is a sinking feeling when it comes to British Columbia's waterfront real estate market. Climate Central's Coastal Risk Screening Tool is an interactive map that shows which coastlines around the world would be submerged based on various projections of sea level rise. It shows that many of the beaches and islands in the Vancouver, Richmond, and North Vancouver areas would be submerged with a one-meter sea level rise. A half-meter rise could happen as early as 2050, as BCBusiness noted. John Clague, an earth sciences professor at Simon Fraser University, called it "a potential disaster in slow motion," per BCBusiness. While taking measures to mitigate the rising water is important, Clague said it won't stop the crisis from coming if huge strides aren't made to cool down our overheating planet. "It will get worse and worse, and the public will be screaming to do something," added Clague. "These solutions take time and money, and the resources have to be invested incrementally. You're not going to find $10 billion overnight. New capital infrastructure on a large scale — new water and sewer lines — takes years, and this is an even bigger problem. If we don't do anything we're going to be in trouble." A 2023 report from the B.C. Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), Natural Catastrophes and Climate-Related Risks, outlined the physical and financial risks related to an overheating planet on British Columbia. "The risks and impacts to the financial services sector are driven by B.C.'s significant exposure to natural hazards, including flooding, heat waves, wildfires, wind, winter storms, and earthquakes," said the report. "The level of risk is expected to increase with the growing frequency and severity of natural catastrophes resulting from climate change." Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The BCFSA warned that impacts from a warming world could lead to a drop in property values as more and more homes become vulnerable to climate-related hazards. Restricted insurance coverage could exacerbate the problem, driving down property values even further. The BCFSA report advocated for a holistic consideration of natural catastrophes and climate risks, ensuring financial services providers assess their effects on both business outcomes and consumer well-being simultaneously. The report noted that the financial services sector will be relied on as a vital source of information and advice that will help empower consumers to protect themselves and their properties better. Reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases is imperative. This means relying more on cleaner, safer, renewable energy sources like solar power, hydropower, and wind power. Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
