A prominent Miami real estate developer has been sentenced to over 11 years in prison in connection with an $85 million fraud scheme that helped him buy a luxury yacht and fund a lavish lifestyle, authorities said.
Rishi Kapoor was sentenced Thursday to 11 years and 4 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, with restitution to be determined later, court records showed.
Kapoor was charged earlier this year 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 had been the chief executive officer of Location Ventures, a Miami-based real estate development company who was able to raise $85 million from investors for promised real estate projects, most of which were never built, authorities said.
Though he was only entitled to a $400,000 salary plus fees, Kapoor diverted “substantially more funds” for his personal use, including the money used to buy the 68-foot yacht and a home in Cocoplum, prosecutors said.
Kapoor allegedly told investors he’d personally invested $13 million in Location Ventures, but he’d really contributed about half that amount, officials said.
Prosecutors said Kapoor withheld payroll taxes from Location Ventures employees but didn’t give them to the IRS, instead diverting about $2 million for his own benefit.
He also didn’t pay his own personal taxes from 2019 through 2023, despite earning more than $2.8 million in 2022 and 2023 alone, prosecutors said.
Kapoor allegedly falsified bank statements to inflate account balances, didn’t disclose a significant mortgage on the Cocoplum home and misrepresented that his tax returns had been filed with the IRS to obtain more than $9 million in financing from banks, including one that gave a $5 million line of credit to Location Ventures and another that loaned Kapoor $4.2 million for the yacht, officials said.
Other items alleged to be subject to forfeiture include a 2.5 carat platinum ring and a Rolex Daytona watch.
Location Ventures apparently cut ties with Kapoor in 2023.
That same year, it was revealed that Kapoor had employed then-Miami Mayor Francis Suarez as a consultant.
In 2024, it was reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission was suing Kapoor for allegedly ripping off dozens of investors out of millions of dollars.
The civil lawsuit accused Kapoor of misappropriating more than $6 million while keeping about $4 million for himself.
To protect investors at the time, a federal judge agreed to freeze Kapoor’s bank accounts and assets, including a waterfront mansion and the 68-foot yacht.