BCFSA drops the hammer on a B.C. broker who falsified clients' income records
A British Columbia mortgage broker has had his registration cancelled and agreed to pay $80,000 to the province's financial regulator after admitting he submitted falsified income documents to lenders across eight mortgage applications.
Amandeep Duggal, who operated as Duggal Mortgages in B.C. and had been registered as a submortgage broker since 2017, entered a consent order with the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) dated May 8.
The regulator published a redacted version of the document on May 21, confirming Duggal had conducted mortgage business "in a manner prejudicial to the public interest" under the provincial Mortgage Brokers Act (MBA).
Under the agreement, Duggal will pay a $50,000 administrative penalty — the maximum allowed under the MBA — within six months, and a further $30,000 in investigation costs within 30 days.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario has proposed enforcement action against an Ontario-licensed mortgage broker and a private lending firm over alleged off-book mortgage dealings and mortgage administration breaches.https://t.co/ocPe7fuFeC
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) July 10, 2026
Eight files, eight sets of falsified documents
The BCFSA's investigation traced back to three separate complaints the regulator received between November 2022 and April 2023. Those complaints alleged Duggal offered to fabricate documents for clients who would not otherwise qualify for mortgage financing and collected upfront fees in the process.
While a September 2023 office visit and forensic review of electronic records did not uncover material directly tied to those complaints, the regulator used them as the basis for a broader audit of his practice.
Investigators obtained copies of all 98 mortgage applications Duggal had submitted between September 2, 2022 and September 22, 2023, and selected eight for detailed review. All eight contained falsified income supporting documents.
The fabricated materials spanned a range of document types, including T1 General tax returns, T4s, Notices of Assessment, bank statements, invoices, and accountant-attributed records, each inflating the apparent income of the relevant borrowers.
In four of those eight applications, the consent order confirms that borrowers had in fact submitted accurate income documentation to email addresses associated with the brokerage.
Duggal admitted he did not personally review all brokerage emails, and that he submitted the inflated income figures without verifying the accuracy of any of the underlying documents. He collected $56,743.30 in commissions across the eight files.
Read more: BCFSA uncovers mortgage broker violations | Canadian Mortgage Professional
Jonathan Vandall, senior vice president of financial professionals at BCFSA, was direct in characterising the outcome.
"Duggal's conduct was serious, and BCFSA imposed the maximum penalty available," he said.
"Mortgage brokers are trusted with critical financial information. When that trust is abused, BCFSA will act decisively to protect consumers and uphold integrity in the industry."
A new regulatory framework on the horizon
The Duggal case arrives as B.C. prepares to overhaul its mortgage brokering rules entirely. The province's new Mortgage Services Act (MSA) introduces enhanced expectations around borrower document verification and gives BCFSA broader enforcement powers.
This includes the ability to impose financial penalties calibrated to strip away profits gained through misconduct, a direct response to cases where commissions outpaced the fines available under the current framework.
Read more: BC rolls out major mortgage standards reform, gives brokers 15 months to prepare
Vandall noted the MSA's relevance to cases like Duggal's.
"Helping to protect consumers is at the core of BCFSA's mandate, and the MSA strengthens our ability to do that," he said.
"By establishing clearer expectations for conduct and accountability across the mortgage broker industry, the new framework helps ensure borrowers can trust that the mortgage broker they work with is acting with integrity."
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