FSRA case spotlights mortgage fraud risks as enforcement drive continues
Ontario’s financial services watchdog imposed twelve administrative penalties totaling $25,000 on former mortgage agent Pritpal Sandhu after finding she submitted falsified bank records to support a series of Manulife Bank mortgage applications.
Sandhu had been licensed as a mortgage agent in Ontario from 2017 until March 31, 2021, working under two brokerages during that period.
The conduct at issue dated to late 2019 and 2020, when she submitted applications on behalf of borrower clients that were ultimately funded by Manulife Bank of Canada.
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) added that Sandhu “repeatedly gave false or deceptive information when dealing in mortgages in Ontario, contrary to subsection 43(2)” of the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, 2006 (MBLAA).
According to the agreed statement of facts in the minutes of settlement, Sandhu submitted 12 altered bank account statements said to have been issued by multiple major banks, including TD, CIBC, RBC and BMO, between December 2019 and July 2020.
The information in those statements did not match the genuine records later provided to FSRA during its investigation. All 12 mortgages were funded.
FSRA first issued a notice of proposal to impose penalties in January 2023. Sandhu requested a hearing before the Financial Services Tribunal the following month, then withdrew that request on March 23, 2026, clearing the way for an order imposing the $25,000 in penalties, dated March 27, 2026.
Altered documents and FSRA’s fraud focus
FSRA’s enforcement guidance has repeatedly highlighted that many mortgage fraud files handled by its Legal and Enforcement team involved breaches of section 43 of the MBLAA, including cases where agents submitted altered bank statements in support of multiple applications.
In an enforcement report covering 2022 to 2024, the regulator said it “increased enforcement action across sectors, with a total of $1.7M in monetary penalties imposed.”
Part of a broader enforcement pattern
The Sandhu settlement arrived days after FSRA proposed refusing licence renewal for Ontario mortgage agent Mohsen Molsen Hanasavha and issuing a compliance order against former agent Ali Kiani Nejad over an alleged off‑book deal involving a vulnerable senior borrower.
In February, FSRA enforcement against former agent Sabine Quattrociocchi and Diamond Capital Investments over undisclosed, unlicensed mortgage activities led to $50,000 in penalties and a one‑year bar on seeking a new mortgage licence.
Those moves followed an earlier case in which FSRA imposed $52,000 in penalties on mortgage agent Jaswinder Dhanoa after finding she submitted fraudulent down payment and income documentation, including 32 altered bank statements, and accepted payments outside her brokerage.
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