Ontario broker loses licence after 18 fraudulent mortgage applications
The Financial Services Tribunal (FST), which issued its reasons for decision on June 25, heard evidence that between mid-2021 and April 2022, Asnafi submitted 30 mortgage applications to lender CMLS Financial through his authorising brokerage, Real Mortgage Associates Inc.
Of the 24 applications examined by FSRA investigators, 18 were found to be supported by fraudulent documentation, including falsified bank statements, fabricated business registrations, and altered tax documents. Seventeen of those applications were funded, with CMLS advancing more than $11 million.
From complaint to contested hearing
The case originated in June 2022 when CMLS Financial filed a complaint with FSRA about suspicious documents attached to many of the applications Asnafi had submitted.
FSRA investigators, working from a pool of 348 mortgages Asnafi arranged over three years, found the falsified materials primarily concentrated within a single lender relationship over roughly 11 months.
On average, the fraudulent bank statements inflated actual account balances by more than $100,000.
