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A B.C. senior — who previously spent time behind bars for fraud — is on the hook for $60,000 for pretending to be a mortgage broker.

According to a March 10 B.C. Financial Services Authority decision, Frederick (Fred) Johnathon Nielsen held himself out to be a mortgage broker although he was never licenced.

On one occasion Nielsen, who is in his early seventies, used faked documents which showed a client earned significantly more than they did in order to get a mortgage.

The decision says he facilitated eight mortgage applications between September 2018 and June 2019, and collected "at least" $18,500 in commission.

It's not the first time Nielsen has been in trouble over his financial dealings.

In 2017, he was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $10,000 for breaching an order from the B.C. Securities Commission. In 2011, he was banned for 25 years from trading or purchasing securities or exchange contracts.

A securities commission decision says he also went under the name Frederick Gilliland and lived in West Vancouver.

The Vancouver Sun reported that under the name Fred Gilliland he was charged in 2001 with wire fraud for a $10-million scam in the U.S. However, he fled to West Vancouver and led an "expensive lifestyle" while on bail awaiting extradition proceedings.

Eventually, in 2005 he pleaded guilty in Florida for the scam and served three years of a five-year jail sentence.

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In his recent unlicensed mortgage broker endeavour, he forwarded the completed mortgage applications to licenced mortgage broker Sonja Marie Anderson who works for Verico Total Mortgage. One of these applications contained income tax information and other documents that had been altered.

Nielsen would meet with borrowers and discuss mortgages, and then collect personal and financial information necessary to complete the mortgage application. Anderson would then submit the paperwork in order for the mortgage to be completed.

The decision doesn't say whether Anderson knew if Nielsen wasn't licenced, but in July 2019, she found out about the mortgage application that contained falsified documents and that he'd also hit up borrowers for extra fees. She then reported Nielsen to the regulator.

The decision says Anderson has been registered as a submortgage broker since 2008 and has no prior discipline history.

However, the financial regulator issued her a fine of $45,000. The regulator says because she reported the issue and has cooperated with the investigation she wouldn't have to pay any costs.

Anderson signed a consent resolution admitting to her conduct and agreed to be put under supervision for 24 months.

Nielsen was fined $45,000 plus $15,000 in costs.

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Both parties have 30 days to pay or the Financial Services Authority says it will take legal steps to recoup the money.

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