Federal agents arrest Corona del Mar businessman accused in $100M bank fraud case
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Federal agents arrested a 44-year-old Corona del Mar businessman Wednesday on suspicion of bank fraud, after a criminal complaint alleged he falsified documents and used a network of shell companies to obtain a $100-million loan.
Agents swarmed the residence of Mahender Makhijani during an early morning raid tied to a probe being conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, according to a release issued by the Department of Justice following the arrest.
The arrest comes after Makhijani and his Newport Beach real estate firm, Continuum Analytics, were ordered by a court-appointed arbitrator in May to pay $1.34 billion for fraudulently inducing Laguna Beach property owner Mohammad Honarkar in 2021 to enter a $30-million “joint venture” in which Honarkar effectively ceded a portfolio of properties owned by him and his company, 4G Wireless, Inc.
Exactly whether and how the two cases might be related remains to be seen. Makhijani, who also controls the Newport Beach-based company Cantor Group V, an entity named in the federal complaint, is due to make his initial appearance before the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, where he will face charges of bank fraud, the release indicated.
“When criminals are allowed to deceive lenders, the spillover effects can harm consumers and businesses,” said First Assistant United States Atty. Bill Essayli. “Today’s arrest highlights our office’s continued determination to combat threats to our nation’s banking system.”
According to an affidavit filed with the June 8 criminal complaint, a federally insured bank — identified by federal officials only as Bank #1 — advanced Makhijani’s company nearly $100 million so it could originate or buy real estate-backed loans. Cantor was expected to pledge the secured loans and their underlying collateral to the bank, paying it back from the loans’ proceeds, the DOJ reported.
Cantor had pledged its first-lien position in the loans, meaning that in the case of default, Bank #1 would be first in line to foreclose on the underlying property. As part of its due diligence, the bank required the company to submit title insurance policies showing Cantor’s first lien position, according to the release.
Laguna Beach businessman Mohammad Honarkar was awarded $1.34 billion in an arbitration hearing stemming from a years-long commercial property fight.
Federal prosecutors allege that, between September 2024 and April 2025, Makhijani falsified the policies to make them falsely state Cantor’s first lien position when, in fact, other creditors were ahead of it in line. The Newport Beach businessman, or a subordinate, is suspected to have edited the policies in Adobe and then edited or removed the documents’ metadata.
The false policies were then submitted to Bank #1, which relied on the concocted information to grant the loan. Makhijani is also accused of lying to bank employees in the course of several teleconferences and providing a spreadsheet in December 2024 containing false explanations for the title issues.
Upon learning of the alleged fraudulent acts, Bank #1 filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. Officials contended that if the bank had known the true value of the collateral Cantor had pledged, it would have declared default and demanded full and immediate repayment of the $100 million.
If convicted of the bank fraud charges, Makhijani would face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, Justice Department officials said Wednesday.
Reached Wednesday, Honarkar — who was awarded the $1.34 billion by the court arbitration process — said he learned of Makhijani’s arrest after receiving numerous text messages from friends and associates following the incident.
“The first [thought] that came to me, ‘There is a god,’” an emotional Honarkar said in a phone interview with the Daily Pilot. “This is justice.”
The Laguna Beach resident had been embroiled in a dispute with Makhijani stemming from the 2021 joint venture gone wrong, after the former began seeking to examine more closely the transactions’ finances, according to testimony provided in the June 8 criminal complaint.
That’s when, according to testimony provided in an affidavit by a special agent with the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General, Makhijani sought to have Honarkar removed from the management of the joint venture and allegedly threatened him and his family.
The two parties were involved in a May 2, 2023, confrontation at Hotel Laguna, where the men argued about ownership of the facility and another site, 14 West, which had been in Honarkar’s portfolio.
That confrontation became physical as armed security teams hired by Honarkar and Makhijani battled one another, creating a public safety threat that led to the hotels’ temporary closures by the city, The Pilot reported.
Honarkar Wednesday urged the Department of Justice to pursue Makhijani’s associates, saying, “He wasn’t working alone. Those people need to be brought in, because obviously, that’s how they were able to [commit] such a magnitude of fraud.”
Darren Lian, acting special agent in charge with the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles field office, called Makhijani’s arrest a testament to the strength of the division’s financial expertise.
“Our special agents followed the money through layered transfers and disguised accounts, uncovering a scheme designed to deceive at every turn,” Lian said in Wednesday’s news release. “When individuals manipulate documents and abuse financial systems for personal gain, IRS CI will expose the truth and ensure they are held accountable.”
