BlackRock has accused Indian-origin CEO Bankim Brahmbhatt of fraud of $500 million. According to reports, they defrauded investors through fake emails, fake invoices and offshore accounts. The CEO is currently reported missing.
New York. The world’s largest investment firm BlackRock is currently caught in the web of a high-profile fraud. According to American media reports, Indian-origin CEO Bankim Brahmbhatt is accused of committing a scam of $500 million (about ₹4200 crore) through his telecom companies. This scam started in 2020 and was exposed in 2024 when the company’s emails were found to be fake. Now the question is – where is Bankim Brahmbhatt?
Where is this case of fraud related to?
The case pertains to HPS, the private credit investment arm of BlackRock, which had lent huge sums of money to Brahmbhatt’s telecom companies – Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice. It is being said that to obtain this amount the companies used fake accounts, fake emails and false documents.
How was the fraud exposed?
This scam continued for many years. HPS began making loans in 2020, and that amount grew to more than $430 million by 2024, but in July 2024, an employee noted an anomaly in the company’s email domains — some emails were in the names of real telecom companies, but were actually sent from fake domains.
When HPS began investigating, it discovered that many of the invoices and customer emails were completely fake. After this, when the officers reached the New York office, they found the office closed. The big story of this ‘fraud mystery’ started from there.
Where is Bankim Brahmbhatt now?
- According to reports, Brahmbhatt’s house in Garden City is now deserted.
- The Wall Street Journal wrote, “There were two BMWs, a Porsche, a Tesla and an Audi parked in the driveway, but no one was inside the house.”
- BlackRock and other lenders claim that Brahmbhatt may be in India and transferred millions of dollars through offshore accounts in India and Mauritius.
After all, how did this happen with BlackRock?
- The biggest question is that how was such a big company BlackRock fooled for so long?
- Experts say that Brahmbhatt’s companies had prepared fake balance sheets and a network of fake clients.
- He took loan from HPS by showing “paper assets” and then gradually transferred the amount to foreign accounts.
What can we learn from the BlackRock fraud case?
This case is not only known as the BlackRock Fraud Case 2025, but it is also a big lesson – even big brands can become victims of false documents and digital manipulation. The lawyers said in the court that “Brahmbhatt had created only a paper world – where everything was there, except reality.”