NEW YORK— Global investment powerhouses, including BlackRock’s private-credit arm, are grappling with losses exceeding $500 million after an alleged, highly sophisticated loan fraud, described in court filings as “breathtaking,” was purportedly orchestrated by an Indian-origin telecom executive.
Bankim Brahmbhatt, the CEO and owner of telecom-services firms Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice, stands accused by lenders of fabricating invoices and accounts receivable to secure massive loans. The lawsuit, filed in the United States, alleges that Mr. Brahmbhatt’s network of companies created an elaborate, paper-only illusion of financial health while systematically moving funds offshore to India and Mauritius.
The Deceptive Scheme
The massive fraud targeted multiple major financial institutions, including BlackRock’s HPS Investment Partners, which began lending to Brahmbhatt-linked firms as early as 2020, with the total investment growing to roughly $430 million by August 2024. French multinational bank BNP Paribas also reportedly financed nearly half the total loan amount.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the scheme began to unravel in July 2025 when an HPS employee noticed irregularities in the customer email addresses used to verify collateral invoices. Further investigation revealed that several of these addresses were from fake domains designed to mimic real telecom companies, and that correspondence supposedly from clients had been completely fabricated.
The lawsuit asserts that every customer email provided by Brahmbhatt’s firms over the past two years to verify the invoices was fraudulent, and that some contracts dated back to 2018 were forged. A prominent example cited involves Belgian telecom firm BICS, whose security staff confirmed in writing that the emails shared by Brahmbhatt’s firm represented a “confirmed fraud attempt.”
Deserted Office and Offshore Transfers
When HPS officials questioned Mr. Brahmbhatt about the discrepancies, he allegedly dismissed the concerns before abruptly ceasing all communication. An employee who later visited the offices of Brahmbhatt’s companies in Garden City, New York, found the premises locked and deserted.
The lenders’ complaint starkly notes that Brahmbhatt “created an elaborate balance sheet of assets that existed only on paper,” and the focus has now shifted to the recovery of assets allegedly transferred to offshore accounts in India and Mauritius.
The scandal comes at a sensitive moment for BlackRock, which recently acquired HPS Investment Partners as part of its strategy to aggressively expand into the private-credit market, underscoring the risk associated with verifying assets in complex global lending deals.
