The Financial Services Tribunal of British Columbia has upheld the cancellation of a former real estate agent’s licence over her involvement with an unregistered mortgage broker who was linked to fraudulent mortgage applications. The decision in the case of Rashin Rohani v. Superintendent of Real Estate, 2025 BCFST 6 (CanLII) was issued on June 23, 2025, and the tribunal confirmed that Rohani, first licensed as a trading representative in 2012, engaged in conduct unbecoming and professional misconduct under the Real Estate Services Act.
The case stemmed from Rohani’s use of the services of “Mike,” later identified as Jay Chaudhary, to obtain multiple mortgages for herself between 2016 and 2018, and from her referrals of clients to him in 2017. Chaudhary had been suspended as a registered mortgage broker in 2008 and was later subject to a cease-and-desist order, yet he continued to arrange mortgages through falsified documents and intermediaries. His activities were scrutinized during the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering, where he admitted to fabricating income documents for clients.
Although Rohani had first obtained her real estate licence in 2012, her career in the industry was intermittent. She was unlicensed for two periods between 2012 and 2015, citing illness as the reason, and surrendered her licence entirely in December 2023. The tribunal noted that she generally assisted relatives rather than maintaining a full-time practice, with most of her income coming from WorkSafe BC payments or family support from Iran. From 2015 to 2022, she was involved in just six transactions, two of which were for her own property purchases.
Evidence at the original disciplinary hearing showed that Rohani obtained a $1.04 million mortgage from the Bank of Nova Scotia in 2016 using documentation that falsely reported her annual income as over $168,000 and bank balances exceeding $300,000. In reality, her declared income for the relevant years was under $17,000, and her bank accounts held significantly lower balances. She testified that she did not read the mortgage commitment letter and denied knowledge of any falsification, but the Chief Hearing Officer (CHO) found her explanation not credible and concluded she knowingly relied on Chaudhary to mislead lenders.
Rohani used Chaudhary’s services for additional mortgages in 2016 and 2018 and referred at least six clients to him in 2017 without checking his licensing status. The CHO determined she either knew or ought to have known he was unregistered, breaching her duty to act in clients’ best interests with reasonable care and skill. Although the CHO also concluded she likely received referral fees, the tribunal found the evidence for that allegation, which relied heavily on an interpreted spreadsheet and indirect inferences, was unreliable and reversed that finding.
On appeal, Rohani argued that the CHO’s liability and penalty decisions were unreasonable and that her sanctions were excessive. Tribunal Chair Sharleen Dumont upheld the findings that she engaged in deceptive conduct in obtaining her mortgages and improperly referred clients to an unregistered broker. However, the tribunal removed the $40,000 fine imposed by the CHO, reduced enforcement costs from $90,000 to $67,500, and maintained the cancellation of her licence.
In its penalty analysis, the tribunal noted that cancellation remained appropriate even without the referral fee finding, citing the seriousness and repeated nature of Rohani’s misconduct. The decision emphasized that allowing her to remain licensed could undermine public confidence in the real estate profession and fail to deter similar behaviour among licensees.
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