Pandemic travel restrictions let advisor use client’s stolen identity to borrow against his home
A former Vancouver-area investment representative who committed mortgage fraud against a client’s home while the man was stranded overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic has been permanently barred from Canada’s securities industry and ordered to pay close to $1 million.
A hearing panel of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) fined Yi Cun (Harry) Liu $500,000, ordered him to disgorge $442,030 and set costs at $50,000 in reasons dated Oct. 26.
CIRO announced the decision Nov. 4. Liu, a former registered representative at PI Financial Corp., now Ventum Financial Corp., filed no response and did not attend either hearing.
The panel said the case stood out for “the sheer breadth and duration of his deliberate dishonesty.”
How a client’s absence opened the door to mortgage fraud
The client, a Cantonese speaker with limited English, became a PI client in 2017. Liu became his main contact in late 2019, gaining access to copies of his driver’s licence and passport.
When the client left for a six-week trip to China in January 2020, he gave Liu a key to his home to collect his mail. Pandemic travel restrictions kept him away until June 2022, and his account statements were never sent on.
In January 2021, Liu opened a Scotiabank chequing account in the client’s name and filed a forged transfer authorization at PI. Seventeen transfers left a net $52,695.38 missing. By July 2022, the accounts held $43.31.
In March 2022, he used the client’s identification to secure a $268,400 mortgage on the home from a mortgage investment corporation – a non-bank lender that pools investor capital – with documents signed remotely.
He later borrowed about $110,640 from the client without PI’s approval and took out a Scotiabank credit line and card in the man’s name.
The client learned of the mortgage in January 2024, when the lender declared it in default.
On a recorded call, Liu admitted using his identity and urged him not to go to police.
Foreclosure proceedings followed in April, and PI fired Liu for cause on July 5, 2024.
FSRA's has permanently removed a former mortgage agent's licence and imposed administrative penalties after findings related to unlicensed mortgage activity, improper compensation arrangements, and facilitating dishonesty. https://t.co/Wjos9A5fUi
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) November 3, 2026
What does the case mean for mortgage brokers?
The mortgage paperwork listed Liu’s own phone number, a mismatch the client spotted when he confronted him and one that identity checks are designed to catch.
In July, the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) cancelled a BC broker’s registration over falsified income documents.
“Mortgage brokers are trusted with critical financial information,” said Jonathan Vandall, the regulator’s senior vice-president of financial professionals.
Cherolle Prince, director of fraud consulting at Equifax Canada, has urged brokers to verify documents more closely as first-time buyer application fraud rises.
“All fraud starts with an identity,” she said.
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