A Florida man out on bond for a $179 million real estate fraud scheme has been charged with perpetrating another $20 million fraud deal involving bogus assisted living deals.
Nikesh Ajay Patel was arraigned last week by the Middle District of Florida on charges of wire fraud and money laundering involving the fabrication of loan documents using a false identity — he allegedly posed as vice president of Banco do Brasil using the alias Ron Elias, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Patel allegedly falsely implied that a Miami bank authorized loans to convert hotels in rural areas into assisted living communities. He reportedly applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to guarantee the fake loans through the Business Industry Guaranteed Loan Program. Patel then allegedly sold the guaranteed portion of the fake loans to the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. (Farmer Mac).
Patel executed the scheme on three occasions, receiving almost $20 million in proceeds, the Justice Department said. He reportedly used a portion of those dollars to pay restitution on a 2014 $179 million fraud scheme, but he was saving most of it to flee the United States, according to the DOJ. While released on bond on the initial fraud charges, he claimed to be cooperating with authorities and using his business skills to secure funds to repay his debts, the news release stated.
Patel accepted a plea deal in 2016, admitting that as CEO of the Florida-based First Farmers Financial, he led the sale of 26 fraudulent loans to Pennant Management of Milwaukee for $179 million, according to court documents.
In that case, Patel submitted false loan documents that showed that the loans were guaranteed by the federal government. He used the cash to fund failed hotel projects in Illinois and Florida, as well as to buy luxury cars, custom suits and jewelry, and travel.
Patel was scheduled to be sentenced in the Northern District of Illinois in January 2018. Three days before that sentencing date, he was arrested at the Kissimmee, FL, airport, where he had chartered a flight to Ecuador. Patel planned to request political asylum and live off the proceeds from the second $20 million fraud scheme he devised while on federal pretrial release.
Patel’s bond was revoked at that time, and the U.S. Marshals Service transported him to the Northern District of Illinois, where he was sentenced on March 6, 2018, to 25 years in federal prison on the original fraud charges.
For his second fraud scheme, Patel faces a maximum 30 years in prison on each of four counts of conspiracy and wire fraud, and up to 20 years in federal prison on each of nine counts of conspiracy and money laundering. His trial is scheduled for April.
