T
he situation for Ali Choudhri has become more complicated than ever before. As the CEO of Jetall Capital and a prominent real estate investor, he has been accused of fraud and theft in a $15 million lawsuit. The United States Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Norman has issued an order against him, calling him a "forger and a liar."

    According to the order, Choudhri fabricated a deed of trust and a promissory note related to a Galleria-area office building he lost in a lengthy foreclosure proceeding. He used these documents to support a nearly $23 million claim against the LLC that owned the office building, which is now in bankruptcy. The alleged fraud was so brazen that Norman referred the matter to a United States Attorney.

    Two of Choudhri's former associates, including his former chief operating officer, provided damning testimony against him. However, he did not attend the hearing, claiming he was ill. The court found this claim unlikely, as the only witnesses before the court testified that Choudhri was of questionable conduct and created false documents.

    Filing a false claim for proof against a debtor's estate is a federal crime, punishable by a fine or up to five years in prison. Choudhri filed a claim in March against the bankrupt LLC, claiming it owed him nearly $23 million. When the bankruptcy trustee objected to the claim in June, Choudhri amended his claim but did not change the amount he claimed he was owed.

    The claim uses a promissory note and a deed of trust dated May 23, 2018, as evidence. According to these documents, an entity controlled by Choudhri called 2425 WL lent $14.78 million to the property's new owner. However, Choudhri did not have permission to sign for the ownership entity in 2018, invalidating his asserted lien.

    In his order, Judge Norman called the claim "fanciful and wholly false." On the same day the order was filed, Choudhri's attorney, Stephen Sather of Barron and Newburger, withdrew from the case, stating that Choudhri had "failed substantially to fulfill an obligation to the firm regarding the firm's services."

    Choudhri did not respond to a request for comment. The court is not done with him yet, but it appears prepared to move on, with or without him. "The Court believes that Choudhri is a forger and a liar, but he at least is smart enough to avoid a Court hearing where he would be forced to testify and face what is now very evident to this Court," Norman wrote in his order.