The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has dismissed Tejpal Mann’s request for a hearing, without notice, imposing a $20,000 administrative penalty on the formerly licensed life insurance and accident and sickness insurance agent for commission-splitting with a sanctioned associate whom he knew was unlicensed.
The decision to dismiss Mann’s request for a hearing comes after several months of delays on the part of Mann who says was first ill, then in a car accident, then suffering from mental health issues, before failing to attend his three-day hearing altogether.
License expired in 2022
Licensed from June 2016 until his license expired in June 2022, the former agent is being sanctioned for taking over some client business from Daniel Emmerson Tiffin (Tiffin was sanctioned by the Ontario Securities Commission in 2014, later violating the terms of the OSC’s cease trade order, and later still having FSRA refuse to renew his insurance license) while letting Tiffin remain in place as the clients’ key point of contact.
“Tiffin, who was formerly licensed as an insurance agent, arranged for some of his former clients to be transferred to Mann, then a licensed insurance agent, in exchange for a portion of Mann’s commissions. Tiffin continued to act as the insurance agent and Mann signed the paperwork,” the notice of proposal in the case states.
In the case, the insurer eventually charged back most of the commissions Mann received. According to the notice of proposal, Mann still owes the insurer $74,217.70 for chargebacks.
“Mann directly paid Tiffin, a non-licensee, a portion of commissions pursuant to a verbal agreement with Tiffin. In total, Mann paid Tiffin approximately $21,973. Payments were by cheque or bank draft to a Tiffin-controlled company,” the notice adds. “Mann was aware that Tiffin was unlicensed. Mann also knew that Tiffin was placing or negotiating life insurance, as he knew his only role was to sign the paperwork that was completed in accordance with Tiffin’s advice.”
Related:
