A former mortgage broker, Paramjeet Kaur, has reached a settlement with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), agreeing to pay a fine of $40,000 in relation to a fraudulent scheme that raised regulatory concerns. Kaur, who was affiliated with Trillium Mortgage Services Inc., had her mortgage broker license expire on March 31, 2026.
According to the FSRA's statement released on Thursday, Kaur admitted during interviews that she intentionally provided false employment and income information on several mortgage applications. This included an application for a low-income college student for a property located in Hamilton, Ontario. The wrongdoing was brought to light when a complaint was filed by the affected resident in May 2024, who discovered that the registered mortgage exceeded the agreed amount.
Following the complaint, regulatory authorities issued a notice and compliance order in June 2024 not only against Kaur but also against Trillium’s principal broker, Frank Manzo, and a third party referred to as Vatsal Pareshkumar Khamar, also known as Vic Kumar. Investigators stated that Kaur had been contacted by Khamar through an advertisement she posted on Kijiji. It was alleged that Khamar offered to refer clients needing mortgage assistance to her.
The FSRA reported that Khamar met with borrowers, collected necessary documents such as identification and financial statements, and then referred them to Kaur. Although Kaur spoke with some of the clients via telephone or video conferencing, she never met any borrowers in person. She was responsible for completing the mortgage applications, arranging electronic signatures through Khamar, and submitting the applications to lenders via her brokerage, Trillium.
Notably, Kaur claimed that she did not directly pay Khamar, believing he was compensated directly by the borrowers. However, regulators pointed out that Kaur failed to conduct any suitability analyses for the borrowers involved. This neglect stood in violation of Trillium’s policies, which required file checklists and client risk profile forms, none of which were completed.
Furthermore, the FSRA suspects that Kaur earned approximately $90,000 in commissions from these mortgage transactions, while Trillium received $11,000 in commissions. As a part of their ongoing investigation, regulators sent Khamar a formal cease-and-desist letter concerning his unlicensed activities in July 2024, followed by a public warning posted on their website in August 2024.
In terms of penalties, the regulators had initially proposed a fine of $85,000 against Kaur. However, this was negotiated down to the settled amount of $40,000. Kaur is accused of enabling dishonest and fraudulent activities and failing to ensure that the mortgages she presented were suitable for the clients involved.
Both Kaur's employer, Frank Manzo, and Trillium Mortgage Services are facing repercussions as well. Manzo is facing a fine of $25,000 for failing to ensure that his brokerage complied with the regulatory framework outlined in the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act. In addition to Manzo's penalty, the brokerage itself faces a fine of $60,000.
In a brief phone call with CityNews on Friday, Manzo acknowledged that he was in discussions with the FSRA regarding a settlement and refrained from commenting further.
