Broker jailed for family mortgage fraud

Bromley mortgage broker Dele MacAulay has been jailed for 21 months for knowingly submitting nine fraudulent mortgage applications for himself, his wife, and his brother.

MacAulay, a sole trader at Dele MacAulay Financial Services in Orpington, has also been fined £115,157 by the FSA and has been banned from ever working in regulated financial services.

The FSA's investigation was conducted alongside a criminal investigation by Hertfordshire Constabulary which was also looking into mortgage fraud committed by MacAulay.

The investigation showed that MacAulay processed nine fraudulent mortgage applications with vastly inflated income and false employment information.

He submitted five residential mortgage applications for himself between June 2006 and July 2007 to three different lenders, two residential mortgage applications in 2005 and 2006 for his brother to GMAC and The Mortgage Business and two applications for his wife.

The income amounts which he submitted on the mortgages were inconsistent with the amounts he had disclosed both to the FSA and to Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

He also submitted false tax information to the FSA in his Retail Mediation Activities Return (a set of data that forms the basis of regulatory reporting to the FSA).

He is the seventh person to receive a six figure penalty for knowing involvement in mortgage fraud.

Margaret Cole, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA, said the case was a good example of the benefits of a collaborative approach with the police.

She added: "His fine and ban reflect the seriousness of his failings as well as the FSA's attitude to those who abuse their approved status. Between us we have dealt with MacAulay decisively and justice has been done."