Daniel Motha, a former college friend and business partner of Rishi Kapoor, is caught up in the criminal case against the disgraced developer.
Federal prosecutors charged Motha, a 42-year-old Pinecrest resident, with a felony conspiracy count for allegedly helping Kapoor conceal and divert more than $1.3 million in payroll taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to a criminal information charging document. Motha made his first court appearance on April 14 and was released on a $250,000 bond, court records show. He faces up to five years in prison.
Lance Aduba, Motha’s defense attorney, did not respond to requests for comment.
Kapoor has been held without bond in downtown Miami’s federal prison since March 6, when he was arrested on a grand jury indictment charging him with 37 criminal counts, including wire and bank fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. If convicted, he is facing more than 20 years in prison.
Kapoor founded Location Ventures, a defunct Coral Gables real estate development firm that ceased operations in 2023. He is accused of scamming $85 million from investors for failed real estate projects, failing to pay income taxes from 2019 to 2023 and withholding payroll taxes from Location Ventures employees but failing to remit those taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. In 2024, Kapoor settled a civil lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing him of defrauding more than 50 investors.
Motha, who was a classmate of Kapoor at the University of Miami, was an early partner in Location Ventures and served as the firm’s CFO from 2017 to 2022.
Through a company called Patriots United, Kapoor, two of his relatives and Motha owned a 47.9 percent stake in Location Ventures, court records show. Motha and the Kapoors told investors they made an initial $13 million contribution to launch Location Ventures, but a forensic audit commissioned by the SEC “found no evidence of any contribution or property from Patriots United.”
Despite stepping away from his role as CFO in 2022, Motha remained involved in financial decisions after that, including payroll taxes and company fund distributions, the charging document states. Motha and Kapoor withheld payroll taxes from employees, but kept the money instead of sending the funds to the IRS, prosecutors allege.
The duo also made false representations to investors and lenders and altered accounting software so it looked like payroll liabilities had been paid when they had not, the charging document states. Location Ventures corporate money that could have covered taxes instead allegedly went to bonuses and profit distributions, including payments tied to the sale of two properties.
For instance, Motha allegedly created a fake account entry in Location Ventures’ books on June 9, 2020 to make it appear that the firm had paid $225,203 in payroll taxes when it had not, the charging document states.
The SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Motha last year, accusing him of helping Kapoor run a real-estate investment fraud scheme through Location Ventures and its affiliate URBIN, raising about $93 million while allegedly lying to investors by making false statements about capital contributions, project separateness, audits and budget approvals.
The SEC alleges Motha personally took about $1 million in unauthorized distributions and fees.
According to the SEC complaint, Motha approved false or misleading books and records, failed to obtain annual audited financial statements, and did not seek required board approval for major budget overruns and transfers.
Motha settled with the SEC in December without admitting or denying any wrongdoing, court records show. However, he is prohibited from disputing the allegations in the SEC lawsuit and is barred from making false statements to investors in the future sale of any securities.