B.C. Realtor who deceived clients, lied to regulator ordered to pay $627K in penalties

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A former Realtor has been ordered to pay $627,000 in penalties more than a decade after he first deceived his clients in a scheme to increase his commissions.

A former Realtor has been ordered to pay $627,000 in penalties more than a decade after he first deceived his clients in a scheme to increase his commissions.

The B.C. Financial Services Authority ordered Andre Zubko to pay the total—$320,000 in discipline penalties and $307,000 in enforcement expenses—in a sanctions decision issued late last month and published online Friday.

The penalties stem from eight transactions that occurred in 2016 and 2017. According to a previous decision on liability, Zubko worked with two other Realtors to “circumvent the commission provisions” of agreements he had made with clients looking to sell their homes.

Zubko also made “false or misleading statements” to BCFSA investigators looking into his case, and admitted to deleting emails related to the transactions that were under investigation.

In addition to imposing financial penalties, the sanctions decision cancelled the licences of both Zubko and his personal real estate corporation. These cancellations, the document notes, are “notional,” as Zubko has not been a licensed real estate agent since 2017.

The BCFSA decisions explain that Zubko was working for One Percent Realty in Squamish at the time of the eight transactions.

The brokerage operated by charging a flat commission fee and generally attracted clients who were looking to sell their properties at a lower transaction cost.

“Mr. Zubko observed, since he began working at One Percent Realty, that licensees acting for buyers were at times reluctant to show properties listed by One Percent Realty due to the fact that the buyer agents would also receive a reduced commission,” the liability decision explains.

“Mr. Zubko further observed that on most offers made on his One Percent Realty listings by other brokerages, the buyer agents would seek to include a term that required the seller to pay an increased commission to the buyer’s agent.”

Inicio del artículo, extracto de BNN Bloomberg. Para leer el resto, abra el artículo en el sitio del medio.