Miami Developer Arrested, Charged With Sprawling $85M Fraud
Rishi Kapoor, a Miami developer of mixed-use projects who once had the mayor of Miami on his payroll, was arrested Friday and charged with multiple counts of fraud, tax evasion and falsifying bank statements.
Kapoor, the founder of the now-defunct Location Ventures, raised $85M from investors for the purpose of developing projects in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, but at least two of those developments never came to fruition as Kapoor diverted funds to his personal accounts, according to the Justice Department.
The University of Miami alumnus allegedly instead spent investor money on a 68-foot yacht, which was later seized, a house in the Cocoplum neighborhood of Coral Gables and luxury goods. Prosecutors said they plan to seize a Rolex Daytona watch and a 2.5-carat platinum ring to compensate alleged victims.
Kapoor was arrested at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale on his 42nd birthday Friday before appearing in front of a magistrate judge, who denied his request for bail on the basis that he poses a flight risk, the Miami Herald reported. He is scheduled to appear before a district judge to be arraigned on March 20, according to court records.
“There are many acts of deception alleged in the indictment,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Young said in court Friday, the Herald reported.
The 37-count indictment was filed under seal. The DOJ said in a press release that Kapoor was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit offenses against and to defraud the U.S., failure to pay payroll taxes, tax evasion, failure to file tax returns and bank fraud.
Kapoor could spend decades behind bars if convicted on more than one of the charges — bank fraud alone carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years.
At one point, Location Ventures and its subsidiary, Urbin, had a development portfolio of roughly $500M. It developed condos, luxury single-family homes and coworking and coliving concepts.
But in 2023, Kapoor resigned as CEO of Location and Urbin amid allegations that he siphoned investor money from projects for personal uses. He was sued for fraud in January 2024 by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused him of many of the same actions for which he is now being charged criminally.
The SEC said he had been lying to investors and “shuffling investor funds” to misappropriate at least $6M, $4.3M of which he allegedly embezzled for himself.
That same year, the Miami Herald reported that Kapoor had retained then-Miami Mayor Francis Suarez as a consultant for $10K a month, paying him roughly $170K in total.
Suarez hasn't been accused of wrongdoing — Miami has a “weak mayor” system in which the city's top elected official doesn't have a vote on the city council and is allowed to work in the private sector.
Kapoor settled the SEC investigation in 2024 and agreed to pay restitution to investors without admitting wrongdoing. A receiver has been selling Location Ventures and Urbin's assets to pay out that settlement, and the court case has yet to be resolved.
In addition to the investors scheme, the DOJ claims Kapoor never paid income taxes between 2019 and 2023, despite making $2.8M in 2022 and 2023 alone. He also allegedly withheld payroll taxes from his employees but never transferred them to the Internal Revenue Service, then diverted $2M of those funds for his personal use.
