Six are banned for mortgage fraud

Fraud costs the UK millions of pounds a year

Six people have been banned from the mortgage industry after the City watchdog found they had broken fraud rules.

Most had committed mortgage fraud by giving false or misleading details in mortgage applications, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said.

Three worked for the same firm and one was fined £130,000 by the FSA.

Some 91 mortgage brokers have been banned by the FSA over the last three years.

Warning

Fines levied by the FSA for mortgage fraud have totalled more than £1.7m, and the FSA has warned that more could be handed out.

"These individuals put lenders at risk of financial crime and threatened to undermine confidence in the mortgage market, so this action makes the market a safer place," said director of enforcement Margaret Cole.

"Our crackdown on mortgage fraud continues as a priority in our ongoing campaign against financial crime.

"Mortgage fraud is dishonest and anybody who perpetrates it will increasingly find themselves facing bans, large fines and forced to return their illicit gains."

Cases

Among those banned were Neale Morton, Syed Meah and Jonathan Smith, of Neale Morton IMS Limited, based in Gateshead.

Mr Morton submitted mortgage claims for himself that used false income details, and allowed the firm to be used for mortgage fraud by its advisers and customers, the FSA said. He was fined £130,192.

He failed to disclose information to the FSA during the investigation, and the two advisers - who were also banned - both produced falsified documents to the FSA.

Mortgage intermediary Monika Tewari was also banned from working in financial services after submitting two applications with false income details.

Amanakwaa Adu, trading as Distinct Financial Services in Leytonstone, East London, was banned for lying on mortgage application forms. He inflated his income, and claimed he was Belgian, when he was actually Ghanaian.

Tony Oliver, trading as Finesse Financial in Barking, Essex, also put false information on forms and was also banned.