The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has levelled penalties totalling $200,000 against a life insurance agent and Gold Standard Group following allegations the two had participated in an “illegal” life insurance scheme.
A case against Daniel Tiffin, which it has alleged was involved in the scheme, remains ongoing, according to the FSRA website. Tiffin, who has a previous provincial conviction related to securities trading, could be facing a $50,000 penalty for his alleged involvement.
In a June 2 update, the FSRA said that Yogender Jain’s life insurance and accident and sickness agent licence has been revoked and the individual has been told to pay a $100,000 administrative penalty.
Jain and Gold Standard were found to have contravened the Insurance Act by making false or misleading statements to an insurer; to have induced an insured to switch life insurance contract contrary to their interests; and to have allowed compensation to be paid to a non-licensee.
Jain was also found to have furnished “false, misleading, or incomplete information” to the regulator.
Neither contested the FSRA’s notice of proposal, nor did they request a hearing, the regulator said in a news update.
The alleged scheme over which Gold Standard and Jain have faced penalties ran from 2019 to early 2021, as reported by Insurance Business. The parties raked in more than $800,000 in commission from the scheme, the majority of which supposedly came from Tiffin’s former clients, the FSRA has said.
The FSRA alleged that Tiffin continued to be involved in meeting with clients despite being unlicensed at the time. It previously accused Jain and Gold Standard of having “indirectly paid compensation to Tiffin, who was not licensed, for placing or negotiating life insurance”.
Upwards of 40 clients saw their life insurance policies transferred to another insurer despite this potentially being contrary to their interests, the FSRA said, incurring deferred sales charges of $197,000. Some clients claimed they had been unaware of these charges when approached by the regulator.
