Federal authorities have arrested Indian-origin businessman Mahender Makhijani, accusing him of defrauding a financial institution out of almost $100 million via a scheme that concerned cast actual property paperwork and deceptive monetary data.The 44-year-old man is a lawful everlasting resident from India who lives in Corona del Mar, California. He was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with financial institution fraud. He faces as much as 30 years in jail if convicted, experiences the New YoirIn keeping with court docket paperwork, Makhijani ran Newport Seaside-based Cantor Group V LLC, which had an settlement with a financial institution to make use of solely top-priority actual property loans as collateral. Between September 2024 and April 2025, he altered title insurance coverage paperwork to make it appear like the corporate had first declare on sure properties, although different lenders truly had precedence rights over them.Makhijani and a subordinate altered paperwork utilizing Adobe software program, modified metadata and submitted the cast data to the financial institution. Furthermore, deceptive explanations had been supplied throughout calls and thru spreadsheets despatched to the lender.Federal brokers arrested Makhijani at his dwelling within the coastal neighborhood of Corona del Mar in Newport Seaside. Investigators have but to get better the lacking funds.The grievance paints an image of a businessman who managed substantial wealth and a community of corporations. Makhijani travelled by non-public jet, owned neighbouring mansions and maintained a set of luxurious automobiles, together with a Bentley, Porsche and Mercedes G-Wagon.His monetary sources nonetheless stay troublesome to hint.“Makhijani has vital monetary sources, however the authorities has not totally traced and accounted for these sources, that are nearly actually not held in Makhijani’s title,” the grievance states.Cantor Group V was solely one in all a number of entities below Makhijani’s management. The grievance alleges he personally manipulated title data on a laptop computer by modifying metadata or printing, altering and rescanning paperwork earlier than submitting them to lenders.
Mahendar threatened to ‘kill’ workers
The court docket submitting additionally accommodates about Makhijani’s misconduct. He threatened associates, boasted about fleeing to India if authorities caught up with him and used intimidation to keep up management over subordinates. Witnesses informed investigators that he threatened to “kill” workers and put their “household on the road” and “their children on welfare.”He hosted events involving medication and intercourse staff and later used what attendees’ did at these events as a leverage in opposition to them.The grievance additional hyperlinks Makhijani to a variety of enterprise disputes. He directed associates to confront rivals, goal their companies and stress opponents. One dispute centred on the administration of Lodge Laguna in 2023, the place safety personnel related to Makhijani clashed with staff on the property.Individually, an arbitrator awarded about $1.34 billion in Might to Laguna Seaside businessman Mohammad Honarkar in a civil dispute involving dozens of properties. The ruling discovered that Makhijani had breached agreements and defrauded Honarkar.“Criminals like this, they’ve a number of corporations, a number of locations,” Honarkar informed The Pilot. “They conceal, and [Makhijani] doesn’t offer you any paper.”Makhijani is anticipated to make his preliminary look in federal court docket in Santa Ana.Asserting the arrest, First Assistant US Lawyer Invoice Essayli mentioned:
