BlackRock's private-credit division and several global lenders are scrambling to recover over $500 million in what they describe as a "breathtaking" fraud scheme, according to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal.
The alleged mastermind is Bankim Brahmbhatt, an Indian-origin entrepreneur who supposedly owns US-based telecom companies Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice, firms that purportedly sell services and infrastructure to other telecommunications companies.
The WSJ investigation revealed that Brahmbhatt stands accused of fabricating customer invoices, forging email correspondence, and creating elaborate fake contracts dating back to 2018 to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from private-credit investors.
The lenders filed a lawsuit in August alleging that Brahmbhatt's companies owe them more than $500 million, with claims that he "created an elaborate balance sheet of assets that existed only on paper," as attorneys for the lenders wrote in court filings cited by WSJ.
How the scheme worked
The fraud centred on asset-based financing—a lending structure where borrowers pledge future customer payments or receivables as collateral. Brahmbhatt's companies allegedly claimed to finance receivables for major international telecom firms, including T-Mobile, Telstra, and Telecom Italia Sparkle, the WSJ reported.
However, investigators later discovered these contracts and invoices were entirely fabricated.
WSJ revealed that Brahmbhatt went to extraordinary lengths to maintain the deception, including creating fake email domains that mimicked legitimate telecom companies, allowing his team to send fraudulent confirmations directly to lenders.
Hired auditors from Deloitte and later CBIZ conducted verification checks, but the sophisticated fake infrastructure initially escaped detection.
BlackRock's HPS Investment Partners began lending to at least one financing arm linked to Brahmbhatt's ventures in September 2020, according to WSJ.
The investment expanded to approximately $385 million in early 2021, then ballooned to about $430 million by August 2024. French banking giant BNP Paribas funded nearly 50 per cent of the loans to Brahmbhatt's Carriox Capital and affiliated entities, sources familiar with the matter told the WSJ.
Unravelling the alleged fraud
The scheme began to collapse in July 2025 when an HPS employee noticed irregularities with certain email addresses during routine verification. The addresses appeared to come from fake domains mimicking real telecom companies.
When lenders raised concerns, Brahmbhatt initially assured them there was nothing to worry about, the WSJ said, but then stopped answering phone calls entirely.
The report also cited an HPS official who visited Brahmbhatt's Garden City, New York, offices, which were found to be locked and abandoned. When the WSJ team visited the location on Wednesday, October 30, the office remained vacant, with neighbouring tenants confirming no one had entered recently.
At a house listed as Brahmbhatt's residence, the team found two BMWs, a Porsche, a Tesla, and an Audi parked in the driveway beside a dust-covered package by the front door.
Further investigation by WSJ revealed more harrowing details. Belgian telecom company BICS confirmed in writing to Quinn Emanuel law firm—hired by HPS to investigate—that it had no connection whatsoever to the emails shared by Brahmbhatt's firms, calling it "a confirmed fraud attempt", as early as July, WSJ reported.
Subsequent review found that every customer email provided over the past two years was fake, along with forged contracts dating back to 2018, according to court filings cited by the WSJ.
By August 2025, Brahmbhatt's telecom companies, Broadband Telecom, Bridgevoice, Carriox Capital II, and BB Capital SPV, had all filed for bankruptcy. Brahmbhatt himself declared personal bankruptcy on the same day his companies sought Chapter 11 protection, the investigators noted. The lawsuit further alleges that Brahmbhatt transferred assets that should have been pledged as collateral to offshore accounts in India and Mauritius.
People familiar with the matter told the WSJ that lenders believe Brahmbhatt is currently in India. Brahmbhatt's lawyer has denied the fraud allegations.
$500 million may be pocket change considering BlackRock's financials, but this event could trigger industry-wide scrutiny of due diligence practices in private-credit markets, especially with the latest push towards asset-backed lending.
