Coquitlam real estate agent gets licence stripped over role in mortgage financing scheme

A longtime real estate agent had her licence revoked and has been ordered to pay a $75,000 fine stemming from professional misconduct, according to a recent decision from the B.C. Financial Services Authority.

Molenia Golshani, who worked at Evergreen West Realty in Coquitlam, put at least 14 clients at risk by referring them to Jay Kanth Chaudhary also known as Mike Kumar.

Golshani “ought to have known” Chaudhary wasn’t a registered mortgage broker, according to the decision. Golshani didn’t take any steps to verify that Chaudhary was registered.

Chaudhary altered documents to get mortgage financing for his clients, he eventually acknowledged. He charged a commission for those mortgages and paid a portion of that commission to the licensed real estate agents who sent clients to him.

Chaudhary had worked as a registered submortgage broker before being suspended in 2008. In 2017, investigators got a tip Chaudhary was working with real estate agents using fraudulent documents to secure mortgage funding.

The resulting probe led investigators to search Chaudhary’s residences, seizing fax machines, cellphones, portable drives and mortgage files.

Chaudhary’s Excel spreadsheet listed Golshani as the agent, “in relation to a number of transactions in which the purchasers used Chaudhary’s unregistered mortgage services to secure mortgage financing,” according to the decision.

Between 2013 and 2018, Golshani referred at least fourteen clients to Chaudhary in connection with Tri-Cities property deals.

In one instance, the property buyers alleged Golshani collected approximately $7,000 in cash as a “lender fee” to arrange mortgage financing. Golshani denied receiving any lender fee.

In another case, Golshani’s clients lost their deposit on a home when Chaudhary didn’t secure mortgage financing.

Golshani also placed advertisements in a Farsi-language newspaper between 2017 and 2019 pledging that she worked with a team of mortgage brokers who could provide mortgage services for clients without proof of income.

The decision noted that Golshani represented herself in buying a Vancouver property and used Chaudhary’s services to get mortgage financing.

Despite having a negative net income, Golshani’s mortgage application falsely represented she had an annual income of $121,268 and a savings account balance of $90,000.

Golshani waived her right to an appeal.