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A loan fraud case similar to those of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya has now emerged in the United States. Bankim Brahmbhatt a businessman of Indian origin has been accused of defrauding nearly $500 million (nearly Rs 4000 crore) in loans. An exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal states that a group of lenders BlackRocks HPS Investment Partners has accused telecommunications entrepreneur Bankim Brahmbhatt owner of both the telecom services companies Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice of creating fake invoices and accounts receivable used as collateral for enormous loans. The lawsuit was filed in the US in August and alleges that Brahmbhatts network of companies was fraudulently concealing their true financial state while siphoning and transferring money to India and Mauritius. According to the Wall Street Journal the lenders lawsuit alleges that Brahmbhatts business entity owes over $500 million. In August 2025 BlackRock and several other banks filed a lawsuit claiming that Brahmbhatt’s companies owed over $500 million. On August 12 of the same month Brahmbhatt filed for bankruptcy and his companies commenced the Chapter 11 restructuring process. The fraud has arisen at a pivotal moment for BlackRock which completed its purchase of HPS Investment Partners earlier this year as a way to bolster its position in the private credit market. The Wall Street Journal reports HPS began lending to companies tied to Brahmbhatt in September 2020 increasing its total exposure from $385 million in 2021 to roughly $430 million by August 2024. According to the report BNP Paribas the French financial giant is believed to have financed the loans provided by HPS to companies owned by Brahmbhatt. As one of Europe’s largest financial institutions BNP Paribas has so far declined to issue any public comments regarding the matter. Sources mentioned by the Wall Street Journal states that BNP Paribas financed roughly half of the money loaned to Carriox Capital and its affiliated companies all part of Brahmbhatts telecom system. When the lending began HPS hired Deloitte to verify Carrioxs assets by randomly checking customers. Then the accounting firm CBIZ did annual audits. Neither Deloitte or CBIZ has made or offered any public comments on the subject the report said. The Wall Street Journal reported that problems surfaced in July 2025 when an HPS employee noticed unusual customer email addresses used to authenticate invoicing. According to the publication several of these addresses were associated with false domains meant to imitate real telecom providers and an investigation further revealed that the some of the correspondence purportedly sent by clients had been entirely fabricated.
