An Orange County, Calif., man was arrested on June 10 in connection to a federal criminal complaint charging him with defrauding a bank out of nearly $100 million by manipulating title policies to misrepresent collateral that had been pledged to the bank.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, the suspect was identified as Mahender Makhijani, 44, of Corona del Mar and charged with bank fraud
As alleged, Makhijani falsified title insurance records, concealed true lien positions and used a network of shell companies to mislead a federally insured bank out of nearly $100 million, according to according to Darren Lian, acting special agent in charge of IRS criminal investigations in the Los Angeles field office..
“Our special agents followed the money through layered transfers and disguised accounts, uncovering a scheme designed to deceive at every turn. When individuals manipulate documents and abuse financial systems for personal gain, IRS Criminal Investigation will expose the truth and ensure they are held accountable,” Lian noted.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Makhijani controls Cantor Group V LLC, a Newport Beach-based company with a lending relationship with an institution identified as Bank #1.
Under the terms of their agreement, Bank #1 advanced nearly $100 million to Cantor for Cantor to originate or buy loans secured by real estate. Cantor was supposed to then pledge the loans it secured, and their underlying collateral, to Bank #1, paying back the bank from the loans’ proceeds.
Their agreement’s terms required Cantor to only pledge to Bank #1 loans in which Cantor had secured the first lien in the underlying collateral, which would make Bank #1 first in line to foreclose on the underlying property should the loan’s borrower be in default.
By contrast, a second or later lien is worth much less as collateral because Bank #1’s ability to foreclose on the property would be subordinated to other creditors. As part of its due diligence to ensure Cantor had only pledged first lien-backed loans, Bank #1 required Cantor to submit title insurance policies that showed Cantor’s first lien position.
From September 2024 to April 2025, Makhijani falsified title insurance policies to make them falsely state that Cantor was in the first lien position with respect to certain real estate serving as collateral. In fact, other creditors were ahead of Cantor. To falsify the title policies, Makhijani or a subordinate edited them in Adobe and then edited or removed the metadata, such as by printing out the altered title policies before scanning them.
After falsifying the title policies, Makhijani caused his then-employee to submit the false title insurance policies to Bank #1. Makhijani also engaged in several teleconferences with Bank #1’s representatives and lied about the title issues that Bank #1 had identified. In December 2024, he caused a spreadsheet with false explanations for the title issues to be submitted to Bank #1.
In making its lending decisions to Cantor, Bank #1 relied on the false information Makhijani provided. Had it known the true value of the collateral that Cantor had pledged, Bank #1 would have considered Cantor to be in default and then demanded full and immediate repayment, which would have required Cantor to repay Bank #1 nearly $100 million.
In August 2025, Bank #1 filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court in connection with the alleged fraud. If convicted, Makhijani would face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.