The Orange County financier arrested Wednesday for allegedly conning a bank out of almost $100 million is accused of using a series of strong-arm tactics during his campaign of terror — including deploying armed henchmen to seize hotels and a restaurant in a posh Southern California enclave.
Indian-born businessman Mahender Makhijani, 44, was pulled out of his tony Newport Beach mansion Wednesday morning by gun-toting federal agents who took him into custody for allegedly defrauding a local bank out of nearly $100 million in a complex real-estate scheme.
Last month an arbitrator found the Makhijani — who’s alleged to have a taste for sex and drug parties —liable for a more than $1.3 billion in damages over his real estate dealings with Laguna Beach businessman Mohammad Honarkar.
Court documents in both cases allege that he ruthlessly used threats, intimidation and even violence to gain an upper hand on business rivals, including Honarkar.
The criminal complaint against Makhijani says he hired a mobile billboard in 2023 to humiliate a business associate, identified as Honarkar, while the civil case against him details how he used the same tactic against local politicians.
Honarkar detailed the threats Makhijani allegedly made against him in court documents.
“He’s going to destroy my reputation in Laguna. He’s going to make sure my kids and my grandkids are on the street. He’s going to make my life miserable,” said the associate, identified as Honarkar. “That’s what he said.”
Around this time, “mobile billboards depicting [Honarkar] and others’ faces were driven around Laguna Beach, suggesting that [Honarkar] and others were engaged in corruption,” the documents state.
As the conflict between Makhijani and Honarkar escalated, “a group of armed individuals working on behalf” of Makhijani “entered and took control” of numerous properties operated by Honarkar, “including the Hotel Laguna, a Holiday Inn Hotel in Laguna Beach, and several other vacation rentals,” the complaint says.
The conflict at the Hotel Laguna and another hotel called 14 West led to both both being temporarily closed for business by the Laguna city manager.
Makhijani also allegedly used armed thugs to seize “physical control” of a restaurant operated by Honarkar called Terra late one night in June 2023, according to court documents.
The documents stated that Makhijani allegedly had his henchmen break into offices operated by Honarkar and take financial documents from workers.
“A glass door located on the side of the building was shattered with a hammer to gain entry,” the complaint said.
Honarkar in May won a judgment of $1.34 billion against Makhijani after an arbitrator found Makhijani “fraudulently induced” him in business dealings.
The amount awarded Honarkar included $652 million in punitive damages, $326 million in compensatory damages, and an additional $350 million awarded on behalf of the joint venture once operated by the pair, which is currently in receivership.
Attorney Aaron May of Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg, who represented Honarkar in the case, said the arbitrator found that Makhijani breached agreements and defrauded Honarkar.
“The arbitrator, after sitting through weeks of evidence and testimony, found that Mr. Makhijani’s behavior was willful and malicious and deserving of extraordinary punitive damages,” said May.
