The owner of relatively obscure telco companies Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice, Bankim Brahmbhatt, has been accused of defrauding BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, of approximately $500 million (£369.8 million). The scale of the scam has alarmed BlackRock's credit investing division and other major lenders, who are now scrambling to recover the outstanding debt.
BlackRock's HPS Investment Partners alleges that Brahmbhatt engaged in a complex scheme of creating fake invoices and accounts receivable, which he then pledged as collateral for loans. A lawsuit filed by the lenders reveals that Brahmbhatt's network of companies was used to manufacture an illusion of financial health on paper, while secretly moving money offshore to India and Mauritius.
