Former agent fined $50,000 for unlicensed activity

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) announced that it is imposing an administrative penalty in the amount of $50,000 against formerly licensed agent, Daniel Emerson Tiffin.

Licensed from April 1994 until February 2019, Tiffin applied to have his life insurance agent license renewed, but his application was withdrawn following discussions with FSRA, likely over an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) cease trade order issued against Tiffin and his company in 2014, along with later charges that were levied for violating the cease trade order. In March 2020, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the convictions, leaving in place a 24-month probation order and restitution order for the full amount of the promissory notes he solicited from clients when he first violated the order.

After engaging Tejpal Mann, another agent who thought he was being hired as part of a new managing general agency (MGA), an arrangement to split commissions for Tiffin’s former clients began in March 2021.

“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,” FSRA’s notice of proposal states. The issue is related to a similar arrangement Tiffin had with another licensed insurance agent, known as YJ. 

Related:

Ontario regulator levies $200,000 in penalties for deception and churning 

The fees paid to Tiffin amounted to approximately 10 or 20 per cent of the commissions generated. In May 2021, Mann, Tiffin, Tiffin’s assistant and Global Demographics Inc., owned by Tiffin, were sued by a third party, at which time Mann stopped communicating with Tiffin. The insurance company processing the business eventually charged back most of the commissions Mann received. Mann is currently being sued to recover the $74,217.70 he owes for charged back commissions. During the two months he worked with Tiffin, he paid approximately $21,973 for the unlicensed work completed.

“Tiffin’s intentional, unlicensed activity related to Mann continued for two months. Having been a licensed agent for more than a decade previously, Tiffin knew of the obligation to be licensed. Further, Tiffin intentionally recruited Mann to sign insurance paperwork so that Tiffin could continue to act as an agent despite being unlicensed,” they write. “The director is satisfied that Tiffin caused harm to others.” 

FSRA has also proposed to levy administrative penalties totaling $20,000 against Mann. His proceedings with the regulator remain ongoing.