FCA secures conviction of mortgage fraud broker

Larry Barreto, who had already pleaded guilty to 2 offences of arranging and advising on regulated mortgages without FCA authorisation, has been found guilty of 11 charges of fraud by false representation. For a period of just over 3 years, in the course of giving the unauthorised advice, he dishonestly inflated applicants’ income in their applications to the lender. He then charged the client a fee which he paid to Tassib Hussain, an accountant, who created false self-employment and employment documentation to support applications for clients who did not have enough income, and produced documents purporting to have been issued by HMRC with false income figures in. He also falsely claimed to employ two of the applicants. Overall, £3m worth of mortgages were applied for.

Mr Barreto had been struck of by the PIA in 1996 and banned by the FSA in 2004.