Ann “Leon” Lee admitted that she asked family members to impersonate her and take a course called “Ethics – Building Trust.”
After a nearly three-year struggle, a Canadian real estate agent has had his license revoked and agreed to pay thousands of dollars in fees to the British Columbia Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) after repeatedly lying about an online ethics class.
Ang “Leon” Li, formerly of Interlink Realty, has enrolled in the May 2023 mandatory continuing education course hosted by BCFSA and delivered through Microsoft Teams. The course was called “Ethics—Building Trust.”
According to investigators, Lee asked his family to impersonate him and participate in the training. During the training, staff became “concerned that the participant was not Lee” after looking up a photo of Lee online, according to the consent order.
Staff asked participants to confirm their identity, but participants did not respond. When asked to call BCFSA, the participant claimed his phone was broken and left the Teams meeting.
When state regulators followed up with Lee, the agent claimed he was taking courses and that his dissimilar appearance was due to “allergies, lack of sleep, and illness.” BCFSA did not believe Lee and found that he had committed academic misconduct. He was suspended and disenrolled from the course without credit.
Following his suspension, Lee completed the course and renewed his license in September 2023, but BCFSA continued to follow up with him through its Compliance and Enforcement Division. Ms Lee was present at the first Teams meeting, but still claimed that her home lost power when staff asked her to identify herself.
Lee also repeated his claims that he was sick, and after learning that he was still being investigated for academic misconduct, claimed he “felt forced to cancel my flight to attend my grandfather’s funeral.” He also said he was “shocked” by the investigation and should never have been disciplined in the first place.
BCFSA asked Mr. Lee to provide documents, including “information and/or documentation regarding Mr. Lee’s correspondence with an electrician to address an electrical issue, a copy of his May 2023 phone statement, documentation regarding the canceled flight ticket and his grandfather’s death certificate.”
When Mr. Lee failed to provide all requested documents, he received a “strike letter.” At that point, he changed his story again and confessed that he had not attended the original course. Lee agreed to a finding of professional misconduct, had his license revoked and agreed to pay $4,150 in enforcement costs within two months.
Email Christy Murdock
