Mortgage broker faces multiple charges involving victimization of seniors

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This article was published 23/01/2020 (2422 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After an investigation by the Manitoba Securities Commission, a Manitoba mortgage salesperson has been charged with multiple violations regarding the victimization of seniors.

Bret Allan Dobbin, 57, was charged in provincial court regarding 18 separate transactions totalling $534,237 between April 2016 and June 2017 in violation of the Securities Act and the Mortgage Brokers Act.

Dobbin had been banned from registration by the securities commission in 2006, also for victimizing seniors. When those offences took place, he was registered as a salesman with Edward Jones.

He is registered as a mortgage salesperson and has worked for a Winnipeg mortgage broker since 2011. (He is listed on the website for a business called Mortgage Architects.) His registration as a mortgage salesperson is currently suspended.

He was fired by Edward Jones Investments in 2002 in relation to the matter that got him banned for 10 years which involved theft from an elderly widowed client.

Dobbin is charged with 18 counts in violation of the Securities Act, including trading in securities without being registered, and a further 36 counts in violation of the Mortgage Brokers Act, including acting as a mortgage broker and mortgage salesperson on his own behalf and failing to pay the registered broker with whom he was registered.

Jason Roy, senior investigator with the MSC, said those who believe they have been targeted by any type of investment fraud attempt, especially seniors, should call the MSC’s anti-fraud line 1-855-FRAUD-MB (1-855-372-8362).

“We would rather get a call before than have to deal with the damages after,” said Roy.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca