RECBC permanently cancels realtor's licence

In May 2012 we heard how realtor Sam Sharma's real estate licence was suspended indefinitely by the Real Estate Council of B.C. (RECBC) just days after his manager at Multiple Realty Ltd. told the council that money belonging to Sharma's clients may be missing in what appeared to be a misappropriation of funds by Sharma.

At the time, Sharma told CTV news that he was extremely remorseful and couldn't explain why he had such serious issues with money.

"I've been paying back creditors for the last two or three years, trying to please people, trying to make things right from my past, trying to put on a show of success. You're either really, really stupid to do this a second time, or I've got a very serious psychological problem with money."

By 'doing this a second time,' Sharma was referring to a 2005 incident where the RECBC cancelled his licence for five years as a result of a number of infractions, including misappropriating buyers' deposits and forging clients' signatures.

Sharma pleaded guilty in court to that 2005 offence and was ordered to pay back $45,000 in money that was supposed to be in trust.

Incredibly, after his five year suspension, Sharma was back in hot water with another misappropriation allegation.

In reviewing the 2012 offence over the past 13 months, the RECBC has finally come out and ruled that Sharma's licence is to be permanently cancelled.

In a press release issued Friday the RECBC said:

Smrat (Sam) Sharma was subject to an Order of a discipline committee that his licence be permanently cancelled. The cancellation of Mr. Sharma’s licensing under the Real Estate Services Act was effective as of June 6, 2013, although his licence was surrendered to the Real Estate Council on May 7, 2012.

Can we therefore conclude he was really, really stupid AND has a very serious psychological problem with money?

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RECBC issues suspension order for a realtor

On the heels of complaints about the lack punishment for realtors by the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (RECBC), the council has just issued a suspension order for John Salanga of Sutton Group-West Coast Realty and Royal Pacfic Realty.

SUSPENSION ORDER: Johnson Castaneto Salanga, Sutton Group-West Coast Realty and Royal Pacfic Realty (Kingsway) Ltd., Vancouver

Published 2013/06/13

Upon reading the Affidavit of Sonya Jakovickas, Compliance Officer of the Real Estate Council of British Columbia, sworn June 11, 2013,

I AM OF THE OPINION that:

There has been conduct on the part of Johnson Castaneto Salanga in respect of which a Disciplinary Committee could make an Order under section 43 of the Real Estate Services Act. 

The length of time required to complete an investigation or hold a disciplinary hearing, or both, would be detrimental to the public interest. 

I CONSIDER IT in the public interest to, and hereby make an Order under section 45(2) of the Real Estate Services Act suspending the licence of Johnson Castaneto Salanga effective immediately and Order that he not provide any real estate services to or on behalf of any member of the public.

I CONSIDER IT in the public interest to, and hereby make an Order under section 46(3) of the Real Estate Services Act requiring the Royal Bank of Canada, located at Fraser St. and 49th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, branch 003, to hold any and all accounts, trust account, client funds, securities, term deposits, registered savings accounts, and/or general accounts on deposit for, or in the name of any of: “Johnson Castaneto Salanga”, “Johnson Salanga”, “John Salanga”, and “Sutton Group – Johnson Salanga”, held solely or jointly, until further order of the Real Estate Council, including but not limited to:

1. Account Number XXXXXXX

2. Account Number XXXXXXX

I CONSIDER IT in the public interest to, and hereby make an Order under section 46(3) of the Real Estate Services Act requiring the Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (“Vancity”), Branch 809, located at Fraser St. and 47th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, to hold any and all accounts, trust account, client funds, securities, term deposits, registered savings accounts, and/or general accounts on deposit for Johnson Castaneto Salanga, or in the name of any of: “Johnson Castaneto Salanga”, “Johnson Salanga”, “John Salanga”, and “Sutton Group – Johnson Salanga”, held solely or jointly, until further order of the Real Estate Council.

From Salanga's 'about me' page on his (now suspended) website (click on image to enlarge): 

So it appears that you can do something that will trigger an immediate suspension from the RECBC as 'the length of time required to complete an investigation or hold a disciplinary hearing, or both, would be detrimental to the public interest. '

Perhaps there is hope we will see the RECBC take assertive action for the exposed liars in the MAC Marketing fiasco.  It's still difficult to fathom how an organization can go on TV, blatantly lie to the public, and the members who lied can still be allowed to work in a field where the public trust is paramount.

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RECBC decisions come under media spotlight with latest realtor misconduct

Meet Marco Vincenzi.

He's the latest realtor to gain notoriety for wrongdoing as the market continues it's slump. 

A slumping market means less sales, and less sales mean less commissions. Do desperate times require desperate measures?

According to CTV's coverage of the story last night, realtor Marco Vincenzi has admitted to forging condo documents, drafting and presenting documents without his client's knowledge, changing offer amounts without permission and keeping his client out of the loop on negotiations... all part of a ploy to increase the size of his realtor sales commission.

According to CTV, Vincenzi's client was making an offer on a Yaletown condo that had languished on the market.  What sparked an offer on the property?  The fact the condo was now being offered with a reduced commission.

Vincenzi took his client's offer, but then tried to make a deal behind her back that would compensate him for the money he stood to lose on that reduced commission.

The client, Janet MacKenzie, was alerted to these shenanigans when the seller's realtor brought them to her attention.

"The way that I found out what had happened was actually when the sellers' realtor had contacted me because she had noticed some discrepancies on the documents with my signatures," said MacKenzie.

MacKenzie went to Vincenzi's real estate office in Coquitlam, and demanded a meeting with his boss, Jason Watson, who insisted in a recorded conversation that Vincenzi’s days as a realtor were done.

"Ultimately by the end of the day, I can't say it will be tomorrow, but probably by Monday he won't have a license," said Jason Watson, managing broker at Sutton Group – West Coast Realty.

This would be a just fate considering these actions appear to be fraud and theft. Which begs the question, were the police called and criminal code charges laid?

Interestingly MacKenzie claims that Janet Watson, the managing brooker at Sutton Group - West Coast Realty told her not to call police.

Watson wanted MacKenzie to let the Real Estate Council of BC handle the matter instead. Mackenzie was assured Vincenzi would lose his license permanently, a punishment she (MacKenzie) felt he richly deserved.

Now faithful readers have commented frequently that the punishments handed out by the RECBC are often nothing more than a minor slap on the wrist, a cost of doing business.

So what happened to Vincenzi?

Originally, a hearing with the Real Estate Council of BC was scheduled for late March, but it was cancelled after Vincenzi agreed to a consent hearing, where he would admit to wrongdoing and agree to accept the council’s punishment.

After 16 months, CTV reports the council finally made a decision, but CTV doesn't reveal what that decision was in today's news story. Presumably that will be the topic of Part 2 to be aired tomorrow.

A quick search of the RECBC disciplinary decisions internet page doesn't reveal any announced decision yet.

Will Vincenzi get the the standard 21 day suspension, requirement to attend training and a $1000 fine? 

Or will he have his licence permanently revoked, a fate this client Janet MacKenzie believes is a punishment he "richly deserves"?

Guess it depends what sort of faith you have in the RECBC.

(hat tip anonymous in comments section of yesterday's post)

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Janet Frost RECBC Suspension Update

In our last post we told you how Janet Frost, MAC Marketing's Director of Sales, had been suspended for 21 days by the Real Estate Council of BC (RECBC), a ruling that was released last week.

Frost has been with MAC for eleven years according to her LinkedIn profile, first as a sales associate and then as Director of Sales. It's an employment career with MAC that has spanned eleven years from 2002-2013.

During that time, however, she also spent a year with Maverick Real Estate Ltd in 2006-2007 - apparently working two jobs at the same time. The RECBC suspension cites the infractions as occurring when Frost was licensed with Maverick. 

In our last post we asked, incredulously, if this suspension could really be for actions from five years ago when Frost was listed as being with Maverick (2006/2007) and whether Frost was working with MAC, Maverick or both.

Today we were contacted from one of the buyers who launched the RECBC complaint:

I am one of the buyers that contacted the RECBC in regards to this deal. There are several of us that lost a lot of money on this deal as the developer went bankrupt and under Alberta laws, $30K of the deposit is released to the developer which we all lost.

This buyer tells us Frost was working for Maverick Real Estate at the time of the infractions and not MAC Marketing (even though Frost's LinkedIn profile states she was a sales associate with MAC during this time period).

If we get further details, we'll update you.

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