Indian-origin hotelier and ex-banker admits to defrauding investor of $500,000

New York, July 16: A hotelier and former banker of Indian origin has admitted in a federal court to defrauding an investor of $500,000 and now faces a prison sentence, according to a federal prosecutor in Tennessee. Rajesh C. Patel, 55, of Duluth, Georgia, pleaded guilty Monday before federal Senior Judge William J. Haynes, Jr., in Nashville, Tennessee, to two charges of wire fraud in defrauding the investor, according to the prosecutor, David Rivera. Patel had received the money from the Tennessee-based investor for a $3.75 million auction bid for a hotel mortgage, but when he lost the bid he diverted the money to pay a debt, the the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Tuesday. He also misrepresented the result of the auction to the investor. He has since, however, repaid the money to the investor. The maximum penalty Patel can receive when he is sentenced Oct. 15 is 20 years in prison for each of the offenses, in addition to fines and property forfeiture. In practice, though, it is unusual for someone to receive the maximum prison sentences to run serially.