UMVA has learned that a stunning financial crime has been uncovered, leading to the arrest of Mahender Makhijani, a 44-year-old lawful permanent resident from India residing in the upscale enclave of Corona del Mar.
Makhijani, who controlled Cantor Group V LLC, a Newport Beach-based outfit, was taken into custody this morning on a federal criminal complaint charging him with bank fraud, a crime that could land him in federal prison for up to 30 years.
According to information obtained by UMVA, Makhijani's company had a lucrative lending deal with a federally insured bank, which advanced nearly $100 million to Cantor to originate or purchase real estate loans. However, Makhijani and a subordinate allegedly concocted a scheme to systematically falsify title insurance policies, using Adobe software to doctor the documents and make it appear that Cantor held first-lien positions when other creditors were actually ahead in line.
The alleged scheme, which ran from September 2024 through April 2025, involved altering or stripping metadata, including printing out the fakes and rescanning them, then submitting the bogus records to the bank. Makhijani didn't stop there, personally joining teleconferences with bank representatives and feeding them misleading explanations, including causing a spreadsheet full of false information to be sent to the bank in December 2024.
The bank relied on these lies when deciding to keep advancing funds, unaware that it was being deceived. Had the truth come out earlier, the bank would have declared Cantor in default and demanded immediate repayment of the full $100 million.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that Makhijani's actions have sparked outrage among law enforcement agencies, with Darren Lian, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation's Los Angeles Field Office, stating that "today's arrest highlights the strength of IRS Criminal Investigation's financial expertise" and that Makhijani's alleged crimes "expose the truth and ensure they are held accountable."
When individuals manipulate documents and abuse financial systems for personal gain, the consequences can be severe, and Bill Essayli, First Assistant United States Attorney, emphasized that "today's arrest highlights our office's continued determination to combat threats to our nation's banking system."
