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.

• Read more: Nearly 2 dozen B.C. real estate professionals face sanctions for working with fake mortgage broker

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.

• Read more: B.C. man sentenced after impaired driving investigation leads to shootout with police