July 13, 2015

CEO of Diplomat Companies Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Investor

R.C. Patel aka Rajesh C. Patel, 55, of Duluth, Georgia, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Nashville, Tenn., to two counts of wire fraud, for defrauding an investor, announced David Rivera, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

During a hearing before U.S. District Court Senior Judge William J. Haynes, Jr., Patel pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud arising from an investment deal involving a mortgage on a hotel property in Atlanta, Georgia. Patel was a hotel owner and developer and was also a substantial shareholder in a community bank in Georgia that was involved in bidding on mortgages being auctioned by the FDIC. Patel admitted accepting $500,000 from a Brentwood, Tennessee investor in connection with an anticipated $3.75M bid on a hotel mortgage. The bid submitted by Patel was not the winning bid and Patel instead, used these funds to pay a debt arising from an unrelated transaction. Patel also admitted making misrepresentations to the investor regarding the outcome of the mortgage auction and concealing the fact that he used the investor’s funds for unrelated purposes.

Patel has already made full restitution to the victim of this fraud.

Patel will be sentenced on October 5, 2015. He faces up to twenty years in prison on each count, in addition to potential fines and forfeiture of any money or property derived from the fraud.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Abely.