Bikram Choudhury Ordered To Give Up Income To Pay For Lawsuit

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Things just keep getting worse for Bikram Choudhury as a judge has ordered the Bikram Yoga founder to turn over the proceeds from his business to go toward a $6.8 million judgment his former legal adviser won against him last year in a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit, a report in Yoga Journal said Jan.11 quoting the Associated Press.

The ruling by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge orders the hot yoga pioneer to turn over funds from his book sales and from the nearly 700 yoga studios worldwide that pay to use the Bikram name, the AP reported.

The funds will go to a court-appointed receiver. The judge also ordered Choudhury to turn over his luxury car collection, Carla Minnard, attorney for the former employee, Minakshi “Miki” Jafa-Bodden, was quoted by AP as saying.

According to the report, Jafa-Bodden said in her lawsuit that Choudhury fired her from her position as head of legal and international affairs at his Los Angeles yoga school in 2013 for refusing to cover up an investigation into another woman’s rape allegation. She had worked as head of legal and international affairs at Choudhury’s Los Angeles yoga school from spring 2011 until March 2013.

She also said in the suit that he inappropriately touched her. “This is a good day for women,” Jafa-Bodden was quoted by AP as saying in a statement following last year’s verdict.
She was awarded nearly $1 million in compensatory damages and more than $6 million in punitive damages. At the time the award was given last January, Choudhury said he was nearly bankrupt.
Six other women have filed sexual assault lawsuits against Choudhury, according to earlier reports.

Choudhury’s attorneys have said he never sexually assaulted any of the women suing him and that prosecutors had declined to bring charges in their cases.