Movement Mortgage wants two former loan officers to pay back a total of more than $1.2 million in signing bonuses after they left the company about a year into their three-year agreements.
According to court and arbitration documents, Movement paid a total of $1,235,000 in “start-up payments” to loan officers Victor Shkolnikov and Igor Velyunskiy when they joined the company in March 2022. Shkolnikov received $835,000 and Velyunskiy received $400,000.
The contracts said these payments were advances on future wages and had to be paid back in full if the loan officers left before working 36 consecutive months at the company. If they left early, the money was due within 30 days.
Both Shkolnikov and Velyunskiy left Movement around March 2023, roughly one year into their three-year commitment. Public records show Shkolnikov now works as a loan originator with United Lending Team in Illinois, while Velyunskiy is with Smart Rate Lending LLC.
Movement and the two former loan officers did not immediately respond to HousingWire’s requests for comment. National Mortgage News first reported the dispute.
Movement started arbitration in February 2024, and the cases were combined before arbitrator H. William Constangy. The LOs pushed back, filing counterclaims that accuse Movement of breach of contract, unjust enrichment, fraudulent inducement and violations of the Truth in Lending Act.
In July, the arbitrator ruled in favor of Movement. The decision said the employment agreements were valid contracts and that the two breached the contracts when they did not repay the start-up payments after leaving before the 36-month mark. All of their counterclaims were dismissed.
The award says the repayment amount will also accrue interest at North Carolina’s legal rate of 8% per year, starting in April 2023, which the arbitrator treated as the date of the breach. The arbitrator did not order either side to pay the other’s legal fees, so each party must cover its own attorneys’ costs.
In early November, Movement asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division, to confirm the arbitration award and turn it into a court judgment. That would make it easier for the lender to collect the money if it isn’t paid voluntarily.
