Administrative monetary penalty on Century 21 Heritage Group Ltd.
[2026-02-10]
Century 21 Heritage Group Ltd., a real estate brokerage with locations in Thornhill, Alliston, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Bradford, Hamilton, Simcoe, Milton and Kingston, Ontario, was imposed an administrative monetary penalty of $148,912.50 on December 10, 2025, for committing 1 violation. The violation was found during the course of a compliance examination. Century 21 Heritage Group Ltd. has appealed the decision to the Federal Court.
Nature of violation
- Violation #1
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Failure to submit suspicious transaction reports where there were reasonable grounds to suspect that transactions were related to a money laundering or terrorist activity financing offence – Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, section 7
FINTRAC determined that Century 21 Heritage Group Ltd. failed to submit 1 suspicious transaction report where there were reasonable grounds to suspect that a real estate transaction was related to the commission or attempted commission of a money laundering or terrorist activity financing offence. FINTRAC’s examination identified a real estate purchase conducted by a client whom Century 21 Heritage Group Ltd. represented, where numerous money laundering and terrorist financing indicators were present. These indicators included:
- Attempts to verify the information provided by a new or prospective client are difficult.
- Foreign buyer, either an individual or company, or source of funds are from a jurisdiction with economic sanctions, strict bank secrecy laws, weak anti-money laundering regimes, or with a high level of political corruption.
- Frequent change of ownership of same property, particularly between related or acquainted parties.
- An individual is the owner, operator or employee of an entity in an industry that could be used as a venue for human trafficking for sexual purposes.
- Use of real estate brokers/agents/developers, lawyers or notaries, wittingly or unwittingly, to accept false personal or financial information related to any aspect of a real estate deal, or to mortgage/loans.
These indicators demonstrate that Century 21 Heritage Group Ltd. had reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction conducted by the client it represented were in line with those related to the commission or attempted commission of a money laundering or terrorist financing offence.
Violation #1 is classified by the regulations as a Very Serious violation. The imposed penalty takes into account the criteria in section 73.11 of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and section 6 of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations.
Related link
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