A $35 million scam perpetrated by three Indian Americans!

 A $35 million scam perpetrated by three Indian Americans!

You can be mistaken if you believe that Indian Americans are well-known just because of well-known CEOs. because they're excellent con artists as well. Rajendra G. Parikh, Rajnikant I. Patel, and Mehul Ramesh Khatiwala are three Indian-Americans who have been accused of participating in a fraud plan to defraud financial institutions out of approximately $35 million. This case has drawn criticism. False paperwork was used in the complex scheme to bolster Small Business Administration (SBA) loan applications for hotel acquisitions.

 Khatiwala, the presumed mastermind, was also charged under the Financial Crime Kingpin Statute, a first for Maryland. Money laundering, making false representations to financial institutions, and bank fraud are among the allegations. A hotel flipping operation that happened between August 2018 and February 2020 is included in the indictment. It is said that the defendants planned to deceive the loan application procedure in order to get loan money. This included fabricating the names of the sellers, their family links, and the kind and quantity of equity that borrowers contributed under the SBA's Section 7(a) Program. 

The defendants are charged with establishing straw owners for their shell businesses, executing purchase agreements, and purchasing hotel properties using falsified paperwork. They are accused of transferring equity infusions meant for down payments on hotels under contract to shell firms owned by Parikh and Khatiwala. According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly participated in round-trip transactions while making false claims about how money from an escrow account would be used to fulfill the obligations of purchasers regarding equity injection.

 It is said that these money were taken out and put back in both before and after loan closings. Khatiwala may be sentenced to a required minimum of 10 years to life in prison if found guilty of running an ongoing financial criminal business. For each case of bank fraud and conspiracy to conduct bank fraud, the maximum sentence for each defendant may be 30 years in federal prison; for each count of making false claims, it could be up to 5 years; and for each count of money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to launder money, it could be up to 10 years. 

This case emphasizes the need for caution when transacting with money and the serious repercussions for those who engage in fraudulent operations.