Orange County real estate investor pleads not guilty in $100 million bank fraud case

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Set us as preferred An Orange County real estate investor accused of criminally defrauding an Arizona bank of nearly $100 million pleaded not guilty Monday and remains in custody.Mahender Makhijani, 44, of Corona del Mar — who also was ordered by an arbitrator to pay $1.34 billion in a separate civil fraud case — was arraigned in Santa Ana federal court on two charges.He is accused of bank fraud and making a false statement to a bank in a June 8 case involving a $100 million real estate loan made by Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bank.He was taken into custody on June 10.Makhijani is accused of providing bogus collateral for the October 2024 loan now in default.

In a civil lawsuit, Western Alliance said the outstanding balance as nearly $99 million.Business Laguna Beach real estate mogul Mohammad Honarkar was awarded $1.34 billion in a dispute with a local financier, who has been arrested on federal bank fraud charges in another case.Prosecutors say he falsified title insurance policies that showed the bank would have a first lien on the underlying collateral if the loan went bad, when in fact it did not.A trial was set for August 11 before U.S.

District Judge David O.Carter in Santa Ana.Michael Schachter, his criminal defense attorney, did not respond to messages seeking comment.In the civil case, an arbitrator in May ordered Makhijani to pay Laguna Beach real estate mogul Mohammad Honarkar $1.34 billion after ruling he had fraudulently induced him into a 2021 joint venture — and then wrested control and lost to creditors more than two dozen properties Honarkar had owned.Makhijani has not been criminally charged in that case, but prosecutors alleged in an affidavit in support of the bank fraud charges that he used “force and threats” in his dealings with Honarkar and others — including taking over the landmark H...