Ex-broker suspended for misusing client’s credit card

A former B.C. broker has been suspended for three years after making unauthorized purchases on a client’s credit card, the Insurance Council of B.C. has ruled.

The province’s broker regulator ordered the suspension in February 2024, after finding that Maninder (Mandy) Kaur Sandhu had used a client’s credit card information to make a $146 purchase from B.C. Ferries and a $350 purchase at a beauty salon in October 2021.

Sandhu had a Level 1 licence for ‘general insurance salesperson’ in June 2018. Her licence was terminated in August 2022 due to non-renewal.

“Council believes that it is appropriate to prohibit the former licensee from receiving any new insurance licence for a lengthy period of time, in order to signal to the industry, as well as to the public, that such misconduct is not acceptable to council and will be treated seriously,” the Insurance Council of B.C. concluded in its decision.

As described in the council’s ruling, a broker at an unnamed brokerage phoned his office on Sept. 24, 2021, to process a routine credit card payment for a client. Sandhu took the call and handled the transaction.

More than a week later, around Oct. 3, 2021, the client contacted the broker again, informing him that unauthorized purchases had been made with the credit card on Oct. 1. The two purchases were for B.C. Ferries and a beauty salon, totalling $496.18.

About a week later, the client contacted the broker once more to ask if someone named Mandy Sandhu worked at the office, “as the credit card had been used in association with a PayPal account in that name,” the council decision reads.

The broker escalated the matter to the brokerage nominee, who held a meeting with Sandhu and the brokerage’s compliance officer on Oct. 19.

Related: Broker fined for not disclosing disciplinary history

“Although she denied the allegations at first, the former licensee ultimately admitted to using the client’s credit card to pay for B.C. Ferries,” council’s decision observes. “The former licensee then submitted her resignation.”

Although Sandhu never admitted to making the beauty salon purchase, “council is willing to make the inference, based on the evidence, that she made that purchase as well,” the regulator’s decision states.

The brokerage took the matter to council, which investigated the situation in November 2021.

In December 2021, Sandhu responded by email to correspondence from a council compliance officer, stating, “Yes the allegation is right. I did use someone’s credit card for my personal use. It was a shameful one-time act and I am very remorseful for that,” per the council’s ruling.

Her admission was offset by the fact that she initially denied making the purchases when first told about it, council says.

Council initially raised concern the former broker may have done ‘supervisory’ duties at the brokerage, contrary to the conditions of her licence. But her “supervisor position was an informal one, where she handled scheduling and payroll on behalf of the office,” as the brokerage’s nominee and compliance officer clarified to the regulator.

 

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