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FCA decision upheld on broker fine for falsifying borrower incomes

vickyhartley
Written By:
Posted:
April 17, 2014
Updated:
April 17, 2014

The Upper Tribunal (Tribunal) has upheld the decision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to fine Amir Khan, director of Sovereign Worldwide £80,000 for faking income details on applications.

The mortgage adviser Fraudulently submitted false income details to a mortgage lender in a personal mortgage application.

The judgement was issued by the Tribunal on 8 April 2014 after a two day hearing in January 2014. Khan can still appeal this judgement.

The Tribunal found Khan had dishonestly submitted inflated income figures to a lender in a personal mortgage application in 2009. He provided false payslips to the lender in support of this application.

In 2007, Khan had also submitted false income details in an application for a mortgage. In its decision, The Tribunal commented: “In our view the evidence that the behaviour concerned demonstrates dishonesty on Mr Khan’s part is cogent and compelling.”

Having considered 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.”

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The Tribunal also found that Mr Khan had deliberately disposed of assets to reduce his ability to pay a financial penalty, and that he had concealed this from the FCA during its investigation.

The FCA proposed to the Tribunal that Mr Khan’s misconduct merited a minimum penalty of £100,000.

The Tribunal considered all of the circumstances and determined that £80,000 was an appropriate penalty in this case.