52 Years in Prison for Nik Patel — Ex-Wife Gets 4+ Years in Last Chapter of Their USDA B&I Loan Fraud
52 Years in Prison for Nik Patel — Ex-Wife Gets 4+ Years in Last Chapter of Their USDA B&I Loan Fraud
It appears the Feds have had enough with Nik Patel’s fraudulent loan activities and have come down hard on him, adding 27 years to his existing 25-year prison sentence for his latest $8.5 million loan fraud.
This fraud involving a fake USDA Business and Industry loan guarantee was orchestrated from a federal prison cell. Using his ex-wife Trisha Patel as an accomplice, the two created a sophisticated scheme that duped another secondary market investor with fraudulent paperwork.
Trisha pled guilty and received a sentence of 51 months.
Nik was originally sentenced to 25 years in prison for his mastermind role in a $179 million fraud in 2018. While on bail, he continued his criminal activities and ripped off secondary market investors for another $19 million.
From the federal press release:
“While Nikesh Patel was in federal custody for the 2019 case, he recruited Trisha Patel (his wife at the time) to perpetrate a third financial scheme. Between January 2021 and December 2023, Nikesh and Trisha Patel devised a more sophisticated scheme utilizing a commercial pump manufacturer in Houston, Texas. At the direction of Nikesh Patel, Trisha pretended to be a senior representative of the company and falsely claimed to USDA that they wanted to expand their business in rural Puerto Rico. The Patels then created a fake lender to pretend that it was loaning $8,540,000 to the business for the expansion. USDA guaranteed 80% of the fake loan, and the Patels then sold that guarantee to financial institutions and received $7,446,880. The FBI was able to recover $74,545 in currency and a 2022 BMW model X7. The defendants were ordered to pay the remaining portion to USDA and four other financial institutions as restitution.”
I’ll get the transcripts of the sentencing hearing that will likely reveal the judge’s anger. It will probably surpass the original judge’s admonition that scolded Nik for throwing away his birthright and ruining the lives of many people he came in contact with, including his family.
Judge Paul Bryon could have sentenced Patel to a concurrent sentence, but he chose to impose a consecutive sentence, where Patel will serve 27 years on top of the original 25-year term – a total of 52 years in prison.