BlackRock's Private Credit Arm Falls Prey To $500-Million Credit Fraud By Indian Businessman

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. The alleged mastermind, Indian businessman Bankim Brahmbhatt, orchestrated an elaborate deception through his telecom-financing firm, Carriox Capital, which presented fabricated assets as legitimate 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.

The falsified receivables were used to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from global financial institutions, most notably BlackRock’s private-credit arm and BNP Paribas. For years, the loans were serviced on paper through fictitious payments and circular transactions, concealing the fraud from auditors and lenders. The scheme began to unravel earlier this year when discrepancies were found during routine due diligence checks, leading to a full-scale investigation.

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.

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 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.