Corona Desi Roundup: Fraud Arrest and a Bollywood Star Under Attack

Southern California's South Asian community found itself at the center of two dramatically different — but equally striking — national headlines this week. On one end, a high-flying Indian-born financier who had been living a lifestyle of private jets and luxury cars was taken into federal custody on a sweeping bank fraud charge involving nearly $100 million in alleged deception. On the other, a Punjabi Bollywood actor with a long film career was violently ambushed inside a Corona gym by an apparent stranger wielding a knife and a hatchet — and walked away only because his own quick thinking and the courage of fellow gym-goers helped subdue the attacker. The two incidents, unconnected in every respect, together illustrate the vivid and varied ways that Desi community members are making local and national headlines across greater Southern California.

Indian-Born Financier Arrested in $100 Million Bank Fraud Scheme

Federal prosecutors have charged Mahender Makhijani, a 44-year-old Indian-born US Green Card holder, with defrauding a federally insured bank out of nearly $100 million through an elaborate scheme centered on falsified title insurance records. Makhijani controlled Newport Beach-based Cantor Group V LLC, which maintained a lending relationship with the bank. According to court documents cited by Gulf News, he manipulated title insurance documentation to make it appear that his company held significantly stronger claims over real-estate collateral than it actually did, using that misrepresentation to secure tens of millions of dollars in unauthorized financing. Authorities arrested Makhijani at his Corona del Mar residence in Southern California. The charges allege not just document falsification but also threats and an extended pattern of misleading lenders. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 30 years in federal prison. Gulf News highlighted the contrast between the severity of the alleged crimes and the extravagant lifestyle Makhijani had been living — one that reportedly included travel on private jets, designer clothing, high-end vehicles such as Bentleys, and lavish social gatherings. The case has attracted substantial attention in South Asian media given Makhijani's Indian roots and the enormous scale of the alleged fraud, which ranks among the larger bank fraud prosecutions to emerge from the Southern California region in recent years. [1]

Bollywood Actor Aman Dhaliwal Survives Brutal Hatchet Attack at Corona Gym

Punjabi Bollywood actor Aman Dhaliwal, 36, a Corona resident with more than a dozen film and television credits, survived a harrowing attack inside a Planet Fitness gym at 3685 Grand Oaks in Corona after he was assaulted with a knife and hatchet by a stranger who had been behaving erratically in the parking lot. According to ABC7 Los Angeles, Dhaliwal first noticed Ronald Chand, 30, of Santa Ana, acting strangely in his vehicle and began recording him on his cell phone. Chand allegedly became furious, used his car to block Dhaliwal, then got out and attacked him with the two weapons. Dhaliwal ran inside the gym with Chand in pursuit. Eyewitness John Keane, who was working out nearby, described turning to find a man holding a knife in one hand and a hatchet in the other with his arm around a bleeding victim. In a moment captured on video, Dhaliwal waited until Chand was briefly distracted, then knocked the weapon away and shoved his attacker to the ground. Keane and three other bystanders pinned Chand down until police arrived. Chand was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, entered a not-guilty plea, and was held on $1 million bail. A family member told ABC7 that Dhaliwal sustained multiple injuries but was discharged from the hospital and was recuperating privately. [2]

Sources: [1] Gulf News · [2] ABC7 Los Angeles