People v. Ponnapula

229 A.D.2d 257, 655 N.Y.S.2d 750, 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2693
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 18, 1997
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 229 A.D.2d 257 (People v. Ponnapula) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Ponnapula, 229 A.D.2d 257, 655 N.Y.S.2d 750, 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2693 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Sullivan, J.

This appeal is from the vacatur, for insufficiency of evidence, of a jury verdict convicting defendant of grand larceny in the first degree and falsifying business records in the first degree and dismissal of the indictment charging him with the commission of those crimes. Defendant’s conviction arose out of his actions in furtherance of a fraud to obtain a $1.9 million loan from the Bank of India.

The evidence at trial revealed the following. Dr. Ponnapula Sanjeer Prasad, defendant’s brother, was the owner and principal of a group known as the Prasad Organization, located in Greenville, North Carolina, the primary function of which was to purchase hotels for quick resale at a profit. Its other members included defendant; another brother, Pasha Ponnapula; Vijay Dandapani, Prasad’s first assistant; Mahesh Shetty, the organization’s chief financial officer; Pat White, Dandapani’s assistant, and Norma Doty, the office manager. Defendant, who lived in Tennessee, operated three of the organization’s hotels and, through two construction companies he owned and operated, renovated others. Defendant was on the organization’s payroll and received compensation irrespective of whether renovations were performed.

Between the fall of 1989 and July of 1990, Prasad, Dandapani, Shetty and White prepared false documentation to obtain approximately 12 loans from six banks, including loans for $3 million, $4 million and $1.9 million from the Bank of India, and a $14 million loan from the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). Since only the $1.9 million loan from the Bank of India is the subject of this indictment, evidence as to the other three loans was permitted as necessary background. There was also testimony offered as to a $1.4 million loan from the State Bank of India and a $2.5 million loan from Branch Banking and Trust. Evidence as to the two latter loans, which were unrelated to the other charges contained in the indictment, was permitted pursuant to a pretrial Molineux ruling. To implement their scheme, these four [260]*260individuals would alter documents, use forged or fictitious signatures and offer false information, where necessary, to obtain the loans.

In November 1988, the Bank of India authorized a $3 million loan to P.S. Investment Company (P.S.), the Prasad Organization’s main operating entity, for the purchase of the Ramada Inn in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Repayment of this loan was later made a condition of a subsequent Prasad Organization application for a $4 million loan to purchase the East Ridge Days Inn in Chattanooga.

In 1989, Prasad decided to purchase a hotel and adjacent parking lot near LaGuardia Airport in New York City and in September of that year met with Shahbaz Raheem, BCCI’s chief credit officer, to whom Prasad paid bribes to provide bank references and process and expedite loan applications, to discuss a loan to enable the organization to purchase and renovate the LaGuardia Airport property.1 Raheem promised to get bank approval for a $14 million loan using the hotel alone as security and suggested that, after the purchase, Prasad legally sever the parking lot from the hotel premises to enable the organization to borrow against the parking lot at a later date. Prasad was amenable and noted that he could use Hospitality Realty Corporation (HR©—a shell corporation created on April 18, 1989 by the Prasad Organization for future acquisitions—to borrow against the parking lot. HRC was completely separate from the Zurich Corporation, which, in early 1989, had replaced P.S. as the organization’s main operating entity and which, by the latter part of 1989, had accrued a substantial amount of debt.

Raheem helped Prasad structure an acceptable proposal from Zurich to BCCI, based on information that was inaccurate, for the purchase and renovation of the LaGuardia Airport property. As part of the application, Dandapani prepared a false statement regarding Prasad’s finances, instructed White to alter the purchase agreement to reflect a higher purchase price for the property and had Shetty prepare a false projected income statement for the hotel.2

In October 1989, the Prasad Organization applied to the Bank of India for a $4.5 million loan to Zurich to purchase the [261]*261East Ridge Days Inn in Chattanooga. In the loan application, Dandapani included a false $7.4 million appraisal of the property and a highly inflated financial statement as to Zurich. He also listed defendant and Majestic Construction, one of defendant’s construction companies, as major suppliers of Zurich. In fact, defendant was not a supplier but, according to Dandapani, was expected, if asked, to respond that he was. In its commitment letter of February 15, 1990, the Bank of India agreed to advance $4 million for the purchase of the East Ridge Days Inn, conditioned upon the repayment before closing of the existing $3 million loan for the purchase of the Ramada Inn in Chattanooga.

On January 19, 1990, about a month before receipt of the Bank of India’s commitment letter for the $4 million East Ridge Days Inn loan, Zurich closed on the $14 million BCCI loan and purchase of the LaGuardia Airport property. At the closing, which Dandapani and Shetty attended, $10 million was disbursed and both the hotel and parking lot were conveyed to Zurich; the parking lot was then transferred, without consideration, to HRC. The remaining $4 million was disbursed in progressive payments based on the submission to the bank of checks drawn on the Prasad Organization’s accounts for renovation of the property. Fictitious checks, some written to Majestic Construction, defendant’s company, were submitted to exaggerate the extent of the renovations. Shortly after the LaGuardia Airport loan closing, Dandapani told defendant that although HRC owned the parking lot, a professional parking company was operating it. When defendant asked "why don’t we run it ourselves”, Dandapani said he and Prasad would consider it. As noted, all of this evidence, including the three loans, was offered as background information regarding the $1.9 million loan from the Bank of India, which formed the basis of defendant’s indictment.

Immediately after the January 19, 1990 transfer of the LaGuardia Airport parking lot to HRC, Prasad began the process of obtaining another loan, using the parking lot as security. Prasad, his companies heavily in debt, decided to make it appear as though he was not involved in the loan. Thus, the loan was sought on behalf of HRC, of which defendant was made president in February 1990. It was felt that defendant, the owner of two companies, would be able, as Dandapani testified, to "field” any questions the bank might have. Significantly, on the loan documents, defendant’s name appeared as Murali Krishna rather than Murali Krishna Ponnapula.

[262]*262In the loan application, Dandapani, who supervised the process for the organization, listed defendant as president and 100% stockholder of HRC and falsely stated that HRC had 15 employees, three suppliers, two bank references and several credit facilities, including one for $450,000 from BCCI. Shetty prepared a false financial statement for defendant, on which Dandapani forged his signature. White prepared a fictitious appraisal of the property. The bank was advised that the purpose of the loan was the purchase of the parking lot, which, in fact, HRC already owned. The loan application, however, unintentionally included the fact that HRC was the current owner of the parking lot.

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Bluebook (online)
229 A.D.2d 257, 655 N.Y.S.2d 750, 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2693, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ponnapula-nyappdiv-1997.