Legality of Offering more EMD Money than a Seller Asks for?

[Bradley N.]

I just purchased some real estate. When I made my first offer, the person helping me said the seller needed X amount of dollars for EMD. The seller responded with a counter-offer and we finally came to an agreement on the sale price. The real estate agent submitted my counter-offer for the price I offered but without telling me that it was contingent upon an increase in the EMD amount. When I finally got the approved paperwork back is when I discovered the increase in the EMD amount by a factor of 4. When the agent verbally told me my offer had been accepted the agent never mentioned that it was contingent upon increasing the earnest money amount. At the time, I didn't give the increase much thought because I knew I wanted to buy the real estate. And I've done so.

However, in retrospect, I got small red flags with this real estate agent all along the process. Almost like the person wanted to keep me in the dark about things as much as possible. Case in point, is telling me my counter-offer was approved but letting ME discover that the EMD money had increased by a factor of 4 when the agent sent me the paperwork.

I have absolutely no qualms about a request for quadrupling EMD if it's a legitimate request from the seller, I would be very upset to think that the real estate agent did that on their own to make me think twice about backing out of the deal or to even entice the seller to accept the counter-offer to begin with. The final settlement shows a nice commission for the agent, which again I have no problem with in and of itself. But I have an extreme problem with deception and being taken advantage of.

So, my question is: Would it be illegal for a real estate agent to make a counter-offer on my behalf but increase the EMD deposit amount in the counter-offer, without my knowledge, above and beyond what the seller is asking to entice the seller to accept the counter-offer and for the agent to feel more secure that the transaction will be successfully completed and that they would definitely get their commission?