When Dallas real estate investor Raheel Bai pleaded guilty to wire fraud in March, his father was accused of aiding his son in stealing millions of dollars in lender funds.
Bisnow reported that her father, Ismail Essa Bai, has now denied these allegations.
Benefit Street Partners, the New York-based financier defrauded by Raheel Bai, accused him of aiding and abetting his son's embezzlement and orchestrating a “shell game” in which he lost millions of dollars before leaving the country. , is suing Mr. Bai.
Ismail Bai's lawyers, Rabji and Weldon Moore III, countered that there was no evidence that Ismail Bai was involved in his son's crimes. They claim that Benefit Street was wrong in obtaining documents that were used against him.
“Mr. Ismail has never been charged, he has never been investigated, and he is not subject to any restrictions,” Ravji told the outlet. “He lives here as a free citizen of the United States. There is no criminal investigation, nothing like this has happened, and that is why Ismail has filed a hostile lawsuit against individuals against him. This is the reason for denying the allegations raised.”
Raheel Bai's scheme unfolded by falsifying and forging more than 75 documents that were used to secure a $149 million loan from Benefit Street under the pretext of refinancing Walgreens' real estate portfolio. Raheel claimed that his funds would be used to strengthen a real estate investment trust associated with his own company, IBF Properties.
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Raheel Bai admitted to funneling about $22 million of the loans to front companies and traveled with his family to the United Arab Emirates and then Pakistan after the fraud was exposed. Charges against co-conspirator Di Hao Zhang, who allegedly converted more than $5 million of the loan into virtual currency to help them leave, were dropped.
Ismail Bai's lawyer claimed he was traveling for a family funeral and had returned home.
Raheel bhai is awaiting sentencing. He could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
—Quinn Donahue
