Miami developer Rishi Kapoor once headed a development company that planned to build mixed-use residential projects in Miami, Coral Gables and Miami Beach.
Rishi Kapoor, an up-and-coming developer with ties to Miami’s former mayor, has decided to plead guilty on Friday to a pair of money laundering and payroll-tax conspiracy charges just two months after he was arrested on a 37-count federal indictment accusing him of directing an $85 million fraud scheme, according to court records.
Kapoor was initially charged with swindling investors of millions of dollars, lying to financial institutions to obtain funds to buy a luxury yacht and failing to pay millions in taxes despite earning a seven-figure income.
Kapoor, who formerly lived in a waterfront estate in the Cocoplum neighborhood of Coral Gables, was unable to obtain a bond after a magistrate judge and federal judge found him to be a flight risk. His trial before U.S. District Judge Michael Moore was scheduled for Monday. With his expected plea, Kapoor faces 10 years or more in prison.
In late March, Kapoor pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his role as the chief executive officer of Location Ventures and its subsidiary URBIN. Both companies, before their collapse in 2023, developed and planned several mixed-use condo projects in Coral Gables, Miami and Miami Beach.
On Thursday, one of his defense attorneys, Fred Schwartz, declined to comment.
Kapoor was arrested at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale on March 6, on what happened to be his 42nd birthday. The developer gained notoriety in 2023 when the Miami Herald broke a story revealing that he had hired then-Miami Mayor Francis Suarez as a $10,000-a-month consultant for URBIN while the company was developing a major project in Coconut Grove. Suarez, whose second term as mayor ended in 2025, is not charged in the new federal case and has denied any wrongdoing.
The indictment, filed by prosecutor Elizabeth Young, included charges for money laundering, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and various tax violations.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida said in a news release that while Kapoor raised about $85 million from investors, “most of the promised real estate projects were never built. Despite being entitled to a capped salary of $400,000 plus certain fees, Kapoor diverted substantially more funds for personal use, including the purchase of a 68-foot yacht and a residence in Cocoplum.”
A view of developer Rishi Kapoor’s slip, far left, at the Cocoplum Yacht Club on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Coral Gables. MATIAS J. OCNER mocner@miamiherald.com
Prosecutors further alleged that Kapoor misrepresented to investors the amount that he had personally contributed to Location Ventures, claiming he and his business partner and family had invested $13 million, “when, in reality, he contributed roughly half that amount.” He also stands accused of deceiving escrow agents “to secure the release of pre-construction condominium deposits and then misappropriated those funds for personal expenses unrelated to the developments. As a result, condominium projects in Coconut Grove and Miami Beach were never built.”
Prosecutors also alleged that Kapoor withheld payroll taxes from employees “but failed to turn that money over to the government, effectively stealing from his own employees.” Instead of remitting those taxes to the IRS, prosecutors allege Kapoor diverted over $2 million “from company accounts for his personal benefit.”
Kapoor is expected to plead guilty to that conspiracy offense against the United States.
He is also planning to plead guilty to one money-laundering charge accusing him of transferring $820,559 from his personal bank account to buy a $5 million, 68-foot Princess yacht on Aug. 15, 2022.
SEC alleged Kapoor ‘shuffled investor funds’
Kapoor, a University of Miami business-school and law-school graduate, was under investigation by the FBI, IRS and U.S. Attorney’s Office for more than two years. In November 2024, he reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve a lawsuit claiming he defrauded dozens of investors in his companies’ projects. That civil case is still unresolved, however, as both sides have failed to reach an agreement on how much Kapoor must compensate those investors.
The SEC case underscores the charges in the new federal criminal case. In the SEC case, Kapoor admitted liability in a consent judgment with the regulatory agency without admitting or denying its allegations that he misappropriated $4.3 million for himself while raising about $93 million from more than 50 investors in his South Florida real estate projects.
According to the agreement, Kapoor was barred for five years from serving as an officer or director of any company that sells security investments.
An Instagram post by developer Rishi Kapoor’s URBIN Condos brand shows Miami Mayor Francis Suarez at the groundbreaking for a project in Coconut Grove. Company records show Kapoor had been paying Suarez $10,000 per month as a consultant. Instagram
Jay Weaver writes about federal crime at the crossroads of South Florida and Latin America. Since joining the Miami Herald in 1999, he’s covered the federal courts nonstop, from Elian Gonzalez’s custody battle to Alex Rodriguez’s steroid abuse. He was part of the Herald teams that won the 2001 and 2022 Pulitzer Prizes for breaking news on Elian’s seizure by federal agents and the collapse of a Surfside condo building killing 98 people. He and three Herald colleagues were 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalists for explanatory reporting on gold smuggling between South America and Miami.