US authorities arrested California-based businessman Mahender Makhijani over an alleged nearly USD 100 million bank fraud. Prosecutors said fake title records made loan collateral appear stronger and exposed the lender to losses.
An Indian-origin businessman based in California has been arrested on charges alleging that he defrauded a bank of nearly 100 million USD with fake documents to make loan collateral appear more valuable than it actually was.
Mahender Makhijani, 44, a resident of Corona del Mar, was arrested on Wednesday on a criminal complaint charging him with bank fraud, according to the US Department of Justice.
Prosecutors have claimed that Makhijani manipulated title insurance records and misrepresented the status of real-estate-backed loans pledged as collateral to a victim bank, exposing the lender to losses.
If convicted, Makhijani faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
According to court documents, Makhijani controlled Newport Beach-based Cantor Group, which had a lending relationship with a federally insured bank identified in the complaint as “Bank #1”.
Under the agreement, the bank advanced nearly 100 million USD to Cantor Group to originate or acquire real-estate-secured loans.
In return, Cantor was required to pledge those loans and their underlying collateral to the bank.
The arrangement specifically required Cantor to pledge only loans in which it held the first lien on the underlying property. A first-lien position gives lenders priority in recovering funds if a borrower defaults, making such loans significantly more valuable as collateral as second- or third-lien loans.
Prosecutors alleged that between September 2024 and April 2025, Makhijani falsified those title insurance policies to make it appear that Cantor held first-lien positions when, in reality, other creditors had priority claims on the properties.
Investigators allege that Makhijani or a subordinate altered the documents using Adobe software and then edited or removed metadata to conceal the changes, including by printing and rescanning the documents.
The falsified records were subsequently submitted to the bank.
The complaint further alleges that Makhijani participated in conference calls with bank representatives and provided misleading explanations when questions were raised about title discrepancies.
In December 2024, he allegedly caused a spreadsheet containing false explanations regarding the title issues to be submitted to the lender.
In August 2025, the bank filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court in connection with the alleged fraud.
