SANTA ANA, Calif. — A 44-year-old Corona del Mar man was arrested Wednesday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with defrauding a federally insured bank of nearly $100 million by falsifying title insurance policies to make pledged real estate collateral appear far more valuable than it was, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced yesterday.
Mahender Makhijani, who controls Newport Beach-based Cantor Group V LLC, is charged with one count of bank fraud. He was expected to make his initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.
According to the complaint, Makhijani’s company had a lending relationship with the bank under which the bank advanced nearly $100 million for Cantor to originate or purchase loans secured by real estate. The agreement required Cantor to pledge only loans in which it held a first lien position on the underlying property — giving the bank priority in foreclosure. Second or junior liens are worth significantly less as collateral.
From September 2024 through April 2025, Makhijani allegedly falsified title insurance policies to falsely state that Cantor held first lien positions on certain properties when other creditors actually held superior claims. He or a subordinate edited the documents in Adobe and removed or altered metadata, including by printing altered policies and rescanning them. Makhijani then directed an employee to submit the fake policies to the bank.
He also participated in teleconferences with bank representatives and lied about title issues the bank had flagged. In December 2024, he caused a spreadsheet with false explanations for those issues to be submitted. The bank relied on the misinformation when making its lending decisions. Had it known the true lien positions, prosecutors said, the bank would have declared Cantor in default and demanded immediate repayment of the full nearly $100 million.
In August 2025, the bank filed a related civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court.
“When criminals are allowed to deceive lenders, the spillover effects can harm consumers and businesses,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “Today’s arrest highlights our office’s continued determination to combat threats to our nation’s banking system.”
The investigation involved IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General, and the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
If convicted, Makhijani faces a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison. A criminal complaint contains only allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
Bilal “Bill” Essayli (born 1985 in Corona, California) serves as First Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California. In this role, he leads a team of roughly 500 lawyers, agents, and staff responsible for federal criminal enforcement across the nation’s largest district by population, covering Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California (USAO-CDCA) is the federal prosecutorial office responsible for enforcing federal criminal and civil laws and defending the interests of the United States in one of the largest and busiest judicial districts in the country. It serves seven Southern California counties—Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo—home to nearly 20 million residents, the largest population of any U.S. federal judicial district.
