What brought down a licensed Ontario mortgage broker with over a decade in the industry
Ontario's financial services regulator has stripped a mortgage broker of his licence and levied $105,000 in combined administrative penalties following a Tribunal ruling.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) found that Masoud Asnafi, who had been licensed in the industry since 2012, submitted falsified documents across 18 mortgage applications and operated an unlicensed entity as though it were a licensed brokerage.
FSRA confirmed on June 29 that it had refused to renew the mortgage broker licence of Asnafi and imposed 19 administrative monetary penalties totalling $95,000 on him, along with a $10,000 penalty on Approved Mortgage Brokers Inc. (AMB), a federally incorporated company Asnafi controlled but never licensed as a brokerage.
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.
FSRA issued a Notice of Proposal in May 2024 to refuse Asnafi's licence renewal and impose penalties.
Asnafi, self-represented, requested a hearing before the FST. Hearings took place over three days in February and March 2026.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has announced that Ian Ross McSevney, formerly of Ancaster, Ontario, pleaded guilty on July 15, to fraud and distributing securities without filing a prospectus, contrary to Ontario securities law.https://t.co/79eu25AP7d
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) July 21, 2026
The Tribunal found that mortgage brokers bear a strict liability obligation under section 43(2) of the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, 2006 (MBLAA), meaning intent to deceive does not need to be proven.
Even if a broker was unaware that documents provided by a borrower were falsified, they are required to take active steps to verify accuracy.
The panel found Asnafi's fraud-detection efforts, which typically consisted of checking identification and occasionally Googling an employer, fell well short of what regulators and industry standards require.
"The Tribunal's decision confirms that mortgage brokers and agents cannot provide false information in support of mortgage applications and must take reasonable steps to ensure that the information they provide to lenders is accurate," said Elissa Sinha, Director of Litigation and Enforcement at FSRA.
Unlicensed branding and a false renewal application
The enforcement action extended beyond the fraudulent applications. The Tribunal found that Asnafi and AMB misrepresented AMB as a licensed mortgage brokerage through signage, email signatures, and a website, despite FSRA warning him about non-compliant advertising as far back as June 2020.
A large sign at a North York office location remained in place for nearly four years after that warning, and AMB branding continued to appear in Asnafi's email signature into 2022.
The panel also found that Asnafi made a false statement on his 2024 licence renewal application by answering "no" when asked whether he had any outstanding criminal charges, at a time when he was facing a charge under section 267(A) of the Criminal Code.
That charge was eventually dropped, but the Tribunal found the denial was not credible.
Taken together, the panel determined Asnafi was not suitable to be licensed as a mortgage broker. Conditional licensing with supervision was considered and rejected; the Tribunal noted that Asnafi had already operated under a principal broker's oversight when the contraventions occurred, and that supervision is not a substitute for compliance.
FSRA initiated 100 enforcement actions in the 2024–25 fiscal year, with the mortgage sector accounting for the largest share of administrative monetary penalties.
A June case saw FSRA warn consumers about an unlicensed operator pressuring clients to sign illegal releases, while earlier enforcement actions have targeted falsified documents, unlicensed brokering, and unsuitable mortgage products across multiple Ontario cases.
Asnafi has 30 days from the date of the order to pay the penalties, or FSRA may file the order with the Superior Court of Justice for enforcement.
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