A corrupt broker has been banished from the industry after consistently lying to a mortgage lender
A corrupt broker has been banished from the industry after consistently lying to a mortgage lender.
Amir Khan, director of Edinburgh-based Sovereign Worldwide Limited, will also have to pay a penalty of £80,000 following an extensive investigation that found submissions of inflated income details to lenders.
The FCA initially proposed that Mr Khan’s misconduct warranted a minimum penalty of £100,000, though the Tribunal determined that £80,000 was an appropriate punishment.
The Tribunal commented: "In our view the evidence that the behaviour concerned demonstrates dishonesty on Mr Khan’s part is cogent and compelling."
The Tribunal found that Mr Khan had dishonestly submitted inflated income figures to a lender in a personal mortgage application in 2009, providing false payslips.
Mr Khan had also been found guilty of providing false income details in an application for a mortgage in 2007.
The City watchdog further found that Mr Khan had concealed evidence of deliberately disposing of assets to reduce his ability in paying the financial penalty. However, the fine was upheld once the broker was found to be financialy stable enough to foot the fine.
Once the court had addressed Mr Khan’s conduct and heard evidence about the risk of fraud within the mortgage industry, the Tribunal said: “We accept that a substantial financial penalty is required in this case in order to achieve the necessary deterrent effect, bearing in mind the overall prevalence of mortgage fraud, its potential effect on the stability of the financial system, and the position of trust that a mortgage intermediary finds himself in."
Mr Khan did not contest any of the FCA’s findings into his lack of action to protect his firm from mortgage fraud risk, and did not challenge the FCA’s decision to prohibit him from performing any other regulated activities.
However, it remains open to Mr Khan to appeal this judgement.
[Picture: Marc Brüneke]
Keywords: disgraced, broker, exiled, thrown out, industry, amir khan, director, broker, Edinburgh, Sovereign Worldwide Limite, fraud, fraudluent documents