Rama Krishna Sangem
Here is yet another case of fraud by an Indian businessman on US based global asset management and investment company, BlackRock to a tune of around 500 million US dollars. The alleged mastermind of one of biggest corporate scams in recent times, is Bankim Brahmbhatt. Of course, now this entire issues in the court of law.
The Wall Street Journal carried a detailed story on this scam and it is widely carried in the global media too. Laurence Douglas Fink is the CEO of BlackRock which through its subsidiaries manages assets worth 11.5 trillion US dollars across the world.
BlackRock’s private-credit division has been defrauded of more than $500 million in what is emerging as one of the most significant scams to hit the global private-credit industry. Brahmbhatt, orchestrated an elaborate deception through his telecom-financing firm, Carriox Capital, which presented fabricated assets as legitimate collateral for large collateral for large loans, according to media reports.
BlackRock and other lenders filed a lawsuit, insisting that the ventures led by Brahmbhatt owe the $500 million in connection with the allegations launched by them. Carriox Capital purportedly financed receivables for major international telecom companies including T-Mobile, Telstra, and Telecom Italia Sparkle.
However, investigators later discovered that the contracts and invoices presented as proof of these receivables were entirely fabricated, according to reports. Brahmbhatt is said to have gone to extraordinary lengths to make the scheme appear authentic — including creating fake email domains that mimicked those of the telecom giants, allowing his team to send fraudulent confirmations and correspondence to lenders.
By August 2025, both Carriox Capital and its associated borrowing entities filed for bankruptcy, unable to reconcile their fake receivables with any real underlying business. Soon after, Brahmbhatt himself declared personal bankruptcy, effectively collapsing the entire operation.
HPS of BlackRock lent Brahmbhatt from 2021-24
According to a report by Wall Street Journal, BlackRock-owned credit giant HPS had started lending to at least one financing arm linked with Brahmbhatt’s ventures in September 2020. In 2021, it extended the debt investment size to $385 million, followed by another expansion of nearly $430 million in August 2024. According to the report, 50% of the loan to Brahmbhatt’s Carriox and other affiliates. other affiliates were funded by BNP Paribas.
The lawsuit came after an HPS employee came across irregularities with some email address that were linked to Carriox customers. It was after this that the lenders called out emails originating from fake domains that appeared to be impersonating real telecom companies. A similar pattern emerged in a review of past emails. Whether Brahmbhatt and his associates will be nailed in the scam is to be seen. The courts, of course, will take their course and time, but certainly this episode has damaged reputation of Indian businessmen at the global level.
