Christine Blau 
Professional real estate investor Raheel Bhai’s twisting lawful saga eventually came to an stop in a federal courtroom in Texas not too long ago when he pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud for allegedly securing a $149 million personal loan from lender Benefit Street Associates by falsifying or forging dozens of documents, Bis Now noted.
At his hearing, Bhai admitted to inflating the length and sum of lease terms his enterprise IBF had with 24 Walgreens throughout 10 states to protected the bank loan, which Bhai claimed was to be applied to refinance the homes as properly as make a new REIT.
As element of the bank loan agreement, Bhai produced an account in which rent from all of the Walgreens leases would be deposited monthly.
Bhai pay as you go $2.3 million, three months of rent, into the account, telling Gain Avenue Partners that it was so he could iron out some challenges he was owning with Walgreens about lease payments, according to the outlet. But the prepayment was genuinely to address up how a lot precise hire Walgreens was spending, which was fewer than what he informed the loan provider.
As an alternative of creating a REIT, Bhai funneled about $21 million to loved ones customers by way of a entrance firm.
When Profit Avenue Companions found the scheme, Bhai and many relatives customers and small business associates fled the country, Bis Now noted. It was later discovered that $5 million of the personal loan proceeds was allegedly transformed to cryptocurrency to support Bhai flee, in accordance to Bis Now, citing a lawsuit in opposition to Bhai’s alleged co-conspirator, Di Hao Zhang.
An IBF worker said she uncovered at the business office and at Bhai’s private home bags of shredded documents similar to the scheme.
Bhai in the end returned to the U.S. to facial area legal charges. He faces a prison sentence of up to 20 yrs and great of up to $250,000, the outlet reported.
In addition to producing a couple of criminal indictments and various lawsuits, the situation signifies a cautionary tale for the industrial true estate marketplace, which experienced huge infusions of money from loan providers keen to dole out loans and perhaps overlooking fraud in the approach.
“The whole point of fraud is that there is some type of concealment,” lawyer Bonnie Hochman Rothell, of Morris, Manning & Martin, explained to Bis Now. “With a clever fraudster, it might not be so noticeable. Despite genuinely diligent underwriting, a great deal of lenders will skip some thing since they, too, have been defrauded.”
Advantage Street Associates, for its component, explained it properly performed its underwriting, together with its due diligence.
— Ted Glanzer
