Man awaiting sentencing for massive investment fraud arrested trying to flee to Ecuador

A Florida man who pleaded guilty in Chicago to a massive $179 million real estate investment fraud was arrested over the weekend trying to board a private jet to Ecuador just days before he was to be sentenced.

Nikesh Patel, 33, was to be sentenced Tuesday in Chicago by U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras.

Patel, of Windermere, Fla., pleaded guilty in 2016 to five counts of wire fraud, admitting in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he sold tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent loans to an investment firm in Wisconsin and blew the cash on a lavish lifestyle and to buy hotels, court records show.

A probation officer recently recommended a sentence of nearly 30 years in prison.

Patel had been free on bond pending his sentencing. About 7 a.m. Saturday, FBI agents were monitoring Patel as he and a companion arrived at the Kissimee Gateway Airport about 20 miles south of Orlando, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in court.

When confronted, Patel told the agents he was planning to board a chartered flight to Ecuador, where he had been “granted political asylum,” the complaint said. He also said he’d paid his travel companion — identified only as “K.T.” — $40,000 to arrange the trip, according to the complaint.

Patel, who had been ordered to turn in his passport as a condition of his bond after he was charged in 2014, had secretly obtained a new passport “from a friend in India” late last year, the complaint alleged.

Patel was arrested and appeared Monday before a federal magistrate judge in Orlando who ordered him held without bond before his transfer to Chicago, court records show.

His lawyer, Andrew DeVooght, could not be reached for comment.

As CEO of the Florida-based First Farmers Financial LLC, Patel orchestrated the sale of 26 sham loans to Milwaukee investment firm Pennant Management for $179 million, according to the charges.

As part of the scheme, Patel submitted false documents to Pennant showing a portion of the loans were guaranteed by the federal government under a program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In fact, all 26 loans were fabricated and had no actual borrower, no pre-existing loan and no government guarantee, the charges alleged.

The fraud had a ripple effect in Illinois. The Illinois Metropolitan Investment Fund, or IMET, a west suburban investment fund popular with local governments and school and park districts, lost more than $50 million in funds it had invested with Pennant.

In all, more than 200 Chicago-area municipalities, school districts, park districts and other public entities, including River Forest District 90, Oak Park District 97, the villages of Oak Park and River Forest, were exposed to the alleged fraud because they invested tax dollars with IMET, the Tribune has reported.

A court-appointed receiver oversaw the seizure and sale of real estate and other assets in Patel’s portfolio, allowing investors to recoup at least some of the losses, court records show. Last year, Oak Brook-based IMET informed its investors that it hoped to recover about an estimated 47.6 percent — or $24 million — of its losses in the scheme, the Tribune reported.

In seeking leniency, Patel’s attorney wrote in a court filing last week that Patel “recognizes the wrong he has done” and that he has “worked extremely hard to take responsibility for his conduct,” including assisting the receiver in recovering about $86 million for victims.

His arrest over the weekend was not the first time Patel has been in trouble while awaiting sentencing. Court records show he was arrested in Panama City, Fla., in April and charged with driving under the influence and possession of a suspended driver’s license.

“Mr. Patel recognizes the harm of not treating his alcoholism, and since his April 2017 arrest, he has seen a counselor to treat his alcoholism,” DeVooght wrote in his filing.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jmetr22b