A B.C. Realtor has agreed to hand in their licence and pay the B.C. Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) $5,000 after admitting to buying a $2.18-million property with falsified income documents.
Jin Luo, a former real estate agent with Green Team Realty Inc. while licensed with City Realty Ltd. (RE/MAX City Realty), signed a consent order proposal on Oct. 1 after admitting professional misconduct.
The order states how Luo submitted a mortgage application in December 2015 in relation to his purchase of a Vancouver property, for which he represented himself as the buyer. However, Luo did so with falsified income and savings information via the services of former sub-mortgage broker Jay Kanth Chaudhary.
Luo also admitted to “conduct unbecoming” under the Real Estate Services Act for refinancing another property in November 2015 with falsified income and savings information, also via Chaudhary.
According to the order, in 2017, the then Financial Institutions Commission of BC (FICOM, now BCFSA) received information about Chaudhary’s alleged illegal transactions with dozens of real estate agents and mortgage brokers.
On Jan. 30, 2019, FICOM investigators and police searched Chaudhary’s home and seized, among other items, an Excel spreadsheet identifying Chaudhary’s clients, including Luo.
Chaudhary has since acknowledged that he provided unregistered mortgage services and that he altered documents in order to obtain mortgage financing for his clients, the order notes.
Luo was investigated in May 2019 for his home purchase.
The order states how Luo bought the $2.18-million property by falsely indicating he had a savings account balance of $850,000 and an annual income of $256,961; Chaudhary falsified a TD savings account statement and CRA documents for Luo’s application, which was submitted by a registered mortgage broker.
A similar scenario played out for the mortgage refinancing of the second property, the order indicates.
According to the order, Chaudhary and Luo met at an open house and Luo did not know Chaudhary's last name, knowing him only ever as "Jay."
Luo did not take steps to verify Chaudhary’s registration status but paid Chaudhary $25,000 “to assist him in obtaining the mortgages.”
Luo, who was represented by lawyer Wanda Simek, had been a Realtor since 2011.
The consent order proposal was signed and thus finalized by Jonathan Vandall, Delegate of the Superintendent of Real Estate, Province of British Columbia.
The order constitutes an administrative penalty and “does not constitute an admission of civil liability” and “its contents may not be used without the consent of J. Luo and Luo PREC in any civil proceeding with respect to the matter.”
Luo case part of sweeping hearings related to Chaudhary and falsified mortgages
As of Oct.12, the BCFSA had been proceeding with at least 18 hearings against real estate agents and sub-mortgage brokers, alleging they worked with an unregistered broker and, in some cases, applied to lenders with fraudulent income documents, sometimes on their own behalf.
The cases are in varying stages. One Realtor is appealing a $130,000 fine and industry ban.
Chaudhary, between 2009 and 2018, allegedly arranged over half a billion dollars in mortgage loans with lenders based on falsified income records as an unregistered, so-called “shadow” broker.
For Chaudhary’s part, it is unclear what consequences he may face. Chaudhary was issued a cease-and-desist order by BCFSA in 2018.
Chaudhary was summoned to the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in February 2021, where he admitted he systemically falsified mortgage applications.
Chaudhary gave testimony under guidance from his criminal defence lawyer Joel Wyshall, who told the commission Chaudhary “is the subject of an ongoing investigation and there is a search warrant being executed on him and the CRA is investigating, and that manner is in charge approval.”
To date, no charges appear in the province’s criminal court registry.
