London mortgage broker and company face $82K in fines for 'deceptive' practices
CBC
The province's financial watchdog has fined and suspended the licence of a London mortgage broker accused of giving false and deceptive information and documents when brokering mortgages.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) said Tuesday it fined William Handsaeme $7,500 and suspended his licence for one year. It also issued a $75,000 fine against the company he formerly headed, Forest City Funding Inc (FCF).
"FCF contravened the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act ... and its regulations by giving false or deceptive information and documents when dealing in mortgages," the regulator said in a statement.
Handsaeme has a long history of serving clients across Canada, and previously acted as president of FCF. He was inducted into the 2022 Hall of Fame by the CMP, an advocacy group for mortgage professionals in Canada.
Allegations against Handsaeme and FCF were made public in May after a two-year probe into FCF's business, according to the regulator. It said Tuesday that under the leadership of Handsaeme, the company knowingly engaged in illegal activities.
"FCF also acted in circumstances where it ought to have known that by acting it was being used by a borrower to facilitate dishonesty," it said.
In its investigation, the regulator looked at five transactions FCF was involved in alongside a company called Solidity Group. Handsaeme was a director of Solidity Group at the time of the transactions.
In those transactions, FCF arranged a first mortgage, and Solidity Group was the lender for a second mortgage.
"FCF assisted the borrowers in obtaining second mortgages. In doing so, FCF facilitated the borrowers violating the terms of the first mortgages," the FSRA said, explaining that the terms of the mortgages prohibited additional financing.
In four of the five transactions, the FSRA said, the second mortgage was used to pay back supposedly "gifted" down payments, in contravention of the terms of the first mortgage commitments.
"In these four transactions, FCF submitted a 'gift letter' to the first lender stating that the funds for the down payments were non-repayable," the authority wrote.
The penalties issued against FCF and Handsaeme were the result of a settlement, the FSRA said. Its initial report in May proposed fines against Handsaeme and FCF of $10,000, and up to $100,000, respectively.
Handsaeme and FCF officials did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday but this story will be updated, if one is provided.
It's small things, like a cigarette or a pair of clean socks, Rachel Montour says, that can go a long way to make you feel more human when you’re out on the street.
Several dozen members of Windsor's Chaldean community and its supporters celebrated in the cold at the corner of Marentette Avenue and Wyandotte Street East Friday, as city officials gave a secondary name to the section of Marentette between Wyandotte and Tuscarora Street: Chaldean Way.
Allison Hill says she tries to make people’s experience at the Thunder Bay Food Bank “as pleasant as possible.”
Two years after a man went missing in Scarborough, Toronto police are renewing the investigation in hopes that the public will bring forward more information.
A musical instrument created in Guelph, Ont., has been thrust onto the international stage — or rather, screen.
More than 1,000 Maritime Electric customers are without power after high winds blew across the Island Friday night into Saturday.
The Supreme Court of Canada is deliberating a case that could shape the way sentences are handed down in cases where both the offender and victim are Indigenous, which some Nunavut lawyers say could have ramifications for the Inuit-majority territory.
A man barricaded in a former church in Welland, Ont., was taken into custody early Saturday, nearly 24 hours into a standoff that began over a fence dispute.
Peel police are investigating after a Friday night shooting in Mississauga left one person dead, police said.
Another busy construction season has come to an end in London, and the city is already looking ahead to next spring when a slew of new projects are expected to begin.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has begun to lay out publicly what he sees as boundaries when dealing with China, as his government wades into a new relationship with the economic giant.
Ferry crossings are cancelled and over a thousand households are left without power Saturday morning, due to high winds and severe weather conditions.
Tens of thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers are waking up without power on Saturday morning after high winds and rain hit the province on Friday night.