Investors who lost nearly $120 million in a Bay Area real estate fraud scheme may not recover all their money, according to a report from the Mercury News. The case centers on Sanjeev Acharya, a South Bay real estate executive, and his company Silicon Sage Builders. In 2020, federal authorities charged Acharya with defrauding hundreds of investors out of $119 million through multiple projects across the region.
Investigators said that Acharya and Silicon Sage moved investor funds between numerous bank accounts to maintain cash flow. According to court filings, “The transactions that the receiver’s forensic accountant analyzed consistently demonstrated that money put into a specific entity would be transferred through multiple accounts, usually within a matter of minutes, before ending up in the account of an entity that needed to make payments that day,” as stated by the receiver in U.S. District Court on December 3. Acharya settled his case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021.
A court-appointed receiver brought in Acres Loan Origination, which was the senior construction lender for two developments: a 96-unit condominium complex at 1853 Almaden Road in San Jose and a 91-unit project at 42111 Osgood Road in Fremont. Proceeds from selling these condo units were intended to help repay investors and creditors affected by Acharya’s actions.
However, legal counsel for the receiver, Kyra Andrassy, explained challenges faced during completion: “Unfortunately, the cost to complete the projects exceeded the original estimates and took longer than anticipated.” She also noted “economic repercussions of the pandemic and supply chain issues,” as well as problems stemming from “the failure of Acharya and Silicon Sage Builders as professional developers.”
The receiver told the court: “Much of the work that had been completed prior to the receiver’s appointment needed to be redone or repaired because of shoddy workmanship.”
The Osgood development in Fremont was finished in early 2024; all units were sold by June that year with Acres receiving $62.7 million from those sales. The Almaden project in San Jose was completed later in 2024 but has seen slower sales—45 condos have been sold so far, another 12 are pending escrow, while 39 remain available for purchase. To date, Acres has received $28.8 million from this project.
