An Orange County real estate investor charged with criminal fraud will remain in jail pending trial after a judge ruled he was a flight risk and had made death threats against a witness.
Mahender Makhijani, 44, of Corona del Mar, accused of defrauding an Arizona bank of nearly $100 million, was denied bail Monday after a multiday hearing sought by federal prosecutors. He had previously been granted $500,000 bail.
Makhijani, who was taken into custody June 10, has pleaded not guilty to two felonies in a case involving a $100-million loan made by Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bank.
He also has been ordered by an arbitrator to pay $1.34 billion to Laguna Beach real estate mogul Mohammad Honarkar in a separate civil fraud case.
“[T]he Court finds there are no conditions of combination of conditions that will reasonably assure the Defendant’s appearance and the safety of others and the…
Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks for banking or shopping, as these unencrypted “hotspots” allow criminals to intercept your traffic through “Man-in-the-Middle” attacks.