Settlement cuts proposed fine as regulator underscores risks in private deals
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) imposed $4,000 in administrative penalties on former mortgage agent Mai Anh (Cindy) Tran after finding she took an off-book payment from a client and submitted inaccurate information and documents in a private-lender application.
Tran, who had been licensed as a mortgage agent from 2008 until her licence expired on March 31, 2022, was most recently authorized to deal in mortgages through M.O.S. MortgageOne Solutions Ltd. operating as The Mortgage Centre. Her contract with the brokerage was terminated on March 4, 2022.
Off-book client payment and flawed private deal
Minutes of settlement showed that between November 2020 and September 2021, Tran attempted to refinance a residential property in Etobicoke for a client identified as MN.
In March 2021 she advised MN and the client’s father “that $1,500 was required to facilitate the arrangement of the mortgage.” MN then sent $1,500 by e-transfer, which “was deposited into Tran’s bank account.”
FSRA recorded that “Tran arranged the MN mortgage and the March 2021 Payment outside the brokerage, Mortgage Centre.” The regulator found that she “accepted renumeration from a person or entity other than her brokerage contrary to section 4(1) of Ontario Regulation 187/08,” and that she “submitted an application form and documents to a lender that contained inaccurate information contrary to section 43(2) of the Act.”
In a separate attempt to secure financing, Tran prepared and submitted an application dated September 1, 2021 to a private lender identified as EFL, “who does not require any income qualification nor GDS/TDS.”
The EFL form “contained inaccurate information relating to MN’s assets, employment, and income,” FSRA said, and was supported by a purported employment letter, paystubs and T4s that also “contained inaccurate information.”
The mortgage offer presented to MN did not close and no funds were advanced.
From $14,000 proposal to $4,000 order
The January 23, 2026 settlement followed an extended enforcement process. FSRA issued a Notice of Proposal in May 2024 alleging that Tran accepted funds outside her brokerage, provided false or deceptive information and documents in mortgage dealings, and gave false information to FSRA, and proposed administrative penalties totalling $14,000. Tran requested a hearing before the Financial Services Tribunal.
Under the settlement, Tran admitted the agreed facts and acknowledged the conduct breached the Act. FSRA’s order, dated January 26, 2026, imposed “two administrative penalties in the total amount of $4,000” – $1,500 for the off-book remuneration and $2,500 for inaccurate information and documents.
Tran withdrew her hearing request and waived rights to appeal the order. The allegation that she gave false or deceptive information to FSRA under section 45(1) of the Act appeared in the earlier Notice of Proposal but not in the final penalty order, based on a comparison of the documents.
Part of a wider clampdown on document integrity
The Tran outcome arrived as FSRA continues to focus on private and alternative mortgage business and on the accuracy of documents used in client files. In a supervision plan for 2025–26, the regulator highlighted private mortgages as a higher-risk segment and stressed that principal brokers must ensure robust compliance controls.
FSRA recently imposed $20,000 in administrative penalties on former mortgage agent Shan Jamal after finding he arranged multiple mortgage deals outside his brokerage and took fees directly from borrowers.
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