Lawful Permanent Resident From India Living in Upscale Corona del Mar BUSTED for Defrauding Bank of Nearly $100 MILLION – Forged Title Policies in Adobe, Altered Metadata, and Lied to Lenders!
Mahender Makhijani, 44, a lawful permanent resident from India residing in the upscale enclave of Corona del Mar, was arrested this morning on a federal criminal complaint charging him with bank fraud.
Makhijani controlled Cantor Group V LLC, a Newport Beach-based outfit that had a lending deal with a federally insured bank. Under the agreement, the bank advanced nearly $100 million so Cantor could originate or purchase real estate loans, but only first-lien loans where Cantor held the top position on the collateral.
Instead of playing straight, Makhijani and a subordinate spent months from September 2024 through April 2025 systematically falsifying title insurance policies.
They used Adobe software to doctor the documents, making it appear Cantor held first-lien positions when other creditors were actually ahead in line. They altered or stripped metadata — including by printing out the fakes and rescanning them — then submitted the bogus records to the bank.
Makhijani didn’t stop there. He personally joined teleconferences with bank reps and fed them misleading explanations. In December 2024, he caused a spreadsheet full of false information to be sent over.
The bank relied on these lies when deciding to keep advancing funds. Had the truth come out earlier, the bank would have declared Cantor in default and demanded immediate repayment of the full $100 million.