Bankim Brahmbhatt Accused By BlackRock In $500 Million Fraud Case

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY — A massive loan fraud involving over $500 million has come to light, implicating Indian telecom executive Bankim Brahmbhatt in what experts are calling a “breathtaking” financial deception.

The scandal has sent shockwaves through BlackRock’s private-credit investment arm and several other major lenders scrambling to recover the losses.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Brahmbhatt—owner of telecom services companies Broadband Telecom and Bridge Voice—allegedly fabricated invoices and accounts receivable, which were used as collateral for substantial loans. The lawsuit, filed in August in the United States, claims that Brahmbhatt orchestrated a complex network of shell companies that projected false financial health while transferring funds offshore to India and Mauritius.

The lenders, including BlackRock’s HPS Investment Partners, assert that Brahmbhatt’s firms now owe more than $500 million, WSJ said. French banking giant BNP Paribas reportedly helped finance nearly half of the loans extended by HPS to Brahmbhatt’s entities.

The fraud strikes a sensitive moment for BlackRock, WSJ said, as it had acquired HPS Investment Partners earlier this year to expand its private-credit operations. HPS began lending to Brahmbhatt-linked companies in September 2020, gradually increasing its exposure from $385 million in 2021 to approximately $430 million by August 2024.

HPS initially engaged Deloitte to verify Carriox Capital’s assets through customer checks, later bringing in CBIZ for annual audits. The scheme began unraveling in July 2025, when HPS staff noticed inconsistencies in customer email addresses used to validate invoices. Many addresses belonged to fake domains, and further investigation revealed fabricated correspondence from supposed clients.

Attempts by HPS officials to question Brahmbhatt were reportedly met with dismissal, followed by unresponsiveness. When an HPS representative visited the Garden City, New York, offices of Brahmbhatt’s companies, the premises were locked and empty. Nearby tenants confirmed no staff activity in recent weeks. Brahmbhatt’s residence reportedly displayed multiple luxury vehicles, including BMWs, a Porsche, a Tesla, and an Audi.

HPS subsequently hired law firm Quinn Emanuel and CBIZ for a thorough review. Their findings indicated that every customer email used for invoice verification over the past two years was fraudulent, and some contracts dated as far back as 2018 were forged.

The lawsuit alleges that Brahmbhatt “created an elaborate balance sheet of assets that existed only on paper” and moved significant sums to offshore accounts in India and Mauritius, WSJ reported.