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May 23, 2024 - 7:00 PM
A BC mortgage broker who made more than $50,000 in commission in the sale of two dozen homes has been found to have been working without a license.
The BC Financial Services Authority found Styles William Stewart and his company First Expanse Financial Corp. were unregistered when he processed multiple mortgages between July 2022 to February 2023.
According to a May 15 BC Financial Services Authority decision, Stewart was issued a cease and desist order in February 2022 when the regulator suspected he was working while under investigation.
The decision says Stewart collected at least $56,000 of commission on mortgages he brokered for 24 properties around the province while working without a license.
The decision says Stewart was licensed at an unnamed brokerage from 2008 until he was fired in November 2021 when an audit uncovered "serious regulatory breaches and secret commissions."
Stewart formed a company First Expanse Financial Corp. which charged brokerage and lender fees without his employer noticing.
After he was fired, he continued to work under the First Expanse Financial Corp. even though neither he nor the company were registered.
The decision says Stewart had tried to transfer his registration from the brokerage that fired him to his company but following a "suitability review" the regulator refused to transfer it.
However, the now unregistered broker carried on working.
The regulator says Stewart was "acutely aware" he wasn't registered and the evidence "overwhelmingly" indicated he kept working without a license.
The decision says Stewart used an incorrect registration number on his paperwork and an incorrect summary of his education history.
"I am satisfied that this document was a fabrication, and that Mr. Stewart, in providing it to (a lender), was intending to hold himself out as a registered mortgage broker, when he knew he was not in fact registered," the regulator said in the decision.
Ultimately, the regulator found Stewart had worked without a license. Any penalty and fine will be decided at a later date.
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