Saratoga Man Sentenced To Prison In Fraudulent Bank Loan Case

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA -- A Saratoga man who formerly owned a Santa Cruz County inn was sentenced in federal court in San Jose on Monday to four years in prison and ordered to pay $4.2 million in restitution for wire fraud and making false statements to a bank.

Sanjiv Kakkar, 55, the former owner of the Brookdale Inn & Spa, was sentenced April 3 by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila.

He was convicted by a jury in Davila's court after a 12-day trial in November of one count of making false statements to a bank and six counts of wire fraud.

The false statements were in connection with a $6 million loan Kakkar obtained from the State Bank of India California, a subsidiary of the State Bank of India, to refinance and renovate the hotel.

Prosecutors said Kakkar falsified his revenue on copies of his 2007 and 2008 tax returns that he gave the bank, for the purpose of boosting his chances of obtaining the loan.

The wire fraud convictions were related to wire transfers of progress payments from an escrow company that was working with the bank. A grand jury indictment alleged that Kakkar gave false progress reports on the
renovation, when in fact "the vast majority of the money was not being spent in the way Sanjiv Kakkar claimed."

The bank eventually resold the inn at a loss in 2014 for $2.8 million, prosecutors said.

Davila also fined Kakkar $20,000 and ordered him to spend three years on supervised release after completing his prison term.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock