Local fugitive got $7.4M in yoga guru sex case
Minakshi Jafa-Bodden
(CNS): Former local attorney Minakshi “Miki” Jafa-Bodden has received more than US$7.4 million after winning a sexual harassment case in the United States against her one-time employer, yoga guru Bikram Choudhury. But Jafa-Bodden is also fugitive from Cayman justice after she failed to appear in court 12 years ago in connection with offences arising out of a traffic case. A warrant was issued in 2004 for the arrest of the attorney who once practiced in Cayman.
She is charged with attempting to mislead a police officer, disorderly conduct in a police station and permitting a person to drive without insurance, local officials confirmed last month. It is not clear if Jafa-Bodden has ever returned to the island since she missed her court date. She is, however, now a wealthy woman.
According to international media reports, Jafa-Bodden claimed she was fired for refusing to cover up an investigation into another woman’s allegation that Choudhury raped her. She also testified that she was a victim of sexual harassment. In January, a Los Angeles Superior Court awarded Jafa-Bodden $6,471,878 in punitive damages and $924,000 in compensatory damages. Jafa-Bodden worked at Bikram Choundhury’s yoga school from 2011 to 2013 as head of legal and international affairs before she was fired.
The 69-year-old yoga guru and one time millionaire built an empire around Bikram yoga, a 90-minute routine performed in a room where temperatures can reach 100 degrees.
While over the years the technique has drawn devoted followers, including celebrities, the world over, in recent times Choudhury’s fall from grace in the face of many more allegations of rape and sexual harassment, which he has denied, has left him, he contends, virtually bankrupt.
Category: USA, World News
This woman is a fugitive from the Cayman Islands and owes a lot of people here money. Certainly makes you wonder who the real predator is here. It seems these days that any woman can call sexual harassment against a man and he loses everything…. and if she is just the witness, why aren’t the “victims” being awarded?
Dear Anon, I’d be very interested to hear more about her time in the Caymans. My name is Tom Leonard and I am the Daily Mail’s US correspondent. tom.leonard@dailymail.co.uk. Thanks
Hello Tom, as a group of yoga school owners, we would be interested in sharing the fact that we are NOT franchises and the people being hurt by all of this are the independent yoga schools, teachers, students, and communities. The Daily Mail and other outlets state that there are 700 franchised studios, but through data I am collecting so far, I cannot find a single franchised studio or any who are paying franchise of affiliation fees. Would you or anyone be interested in taking on this story? If so let me know and I will email you directly. Thank you!!
Tom here. This is interesting, sounds like his yoga ’empire’ is not quite that. Could you provide me with your contact details on tom.leonard@dailymail.co.uk.
Tom fairly certain that when Mikki was arrested she alleged the police officer sexually assaulted her. If the arresting officer is still around he will good to speak with.
Get out from behind your anonymity with that bullshit!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 1, 2013
Manhattan Man Pleads Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court To Engaging In A Fraudulent Investment Scheme
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that S. GEORGE MILTER pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to participating in an investment scheme that defrauded foreign investors out of nearly $1 million. As part of the scheme, MILTER lured investors with false promises that their funds would be safely invested in the U.S. financial markets through a legitimate broker-dealer. Instead, MILTER and his co-defendant Cliffe R. Bodden misappropriated the money by transferring it to related individuals and entities and using it to pay certain personal expenses. MILTER pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “George Milter lied to foreign investors about the safety and performance of their funds while he diverted their money for his own purposes. With his guilty plea today, he joins the disgraced ranks of those convicted for perpetrating investment fraud.”
According to the Indictment against MILTER and Bodden, and statements made during MILTER’s plea allocution today, and prior court proceedings:
MILTER held himself out as the Chief Executive Officer of Lempert Brothers International U.S.A., a registered broker-dealer in Manhattan, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Lempert Capital Management, Ltd., which purportedly was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and managed by Lempert Brothers. Bodden held himself out as a Managing Director of Lempert Capital.
Starting in approximately 2005, MILTER lured foreign investors into sending at least $946,509 to Lempert Brothers under the pretense that those funds would be invested in the U.S. financial markets. To induce investors into wiring funds, MILTER falsely told them that the funds would be safeguarded, and that if the value of the funds dropped more than 20%, the money would be frozen and all remaining funds available for return to investors. In fact, MILTER and Bodden misappropriated the nearly $1 million of investors’ funds by using the money to pay their personal expenses and diverting the funds to a member of MILTER’s family and entities affiliated with Bodden.
To keep the scheme going, MILTER and Bodden sent fraudulent monthly account statements to the investors. These statements falsely reflected that the investors’ funds were invested and earning substantial income. When the investors attempted to withdraw money from their accounts at Lempert Brothers, MILTER and Bodden made additional false and fraudulent representations as to why the funds could not be returned when requested. For example, they falsely told investors that their money was illiquid because it had been invested in various companies that had not yet gone public.
MILTER, 35, of New York, New York, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. In addition, he has agreed to a money judgment of $946,509 representing the amount of the crime proceeds. Milter is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Forrest on March 7, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.
Bodden pled guilty in September 2012 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud for his participation in the investment scheme. He was sentenced by Judge Forrest in February 2013 to 74 months in prison and ordered to pay a money judgment and restitution of $946,509 representing the amount of the crime proceeds, as well as a fine of $25,000.
Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Carrie H. Cohen is in charge of the prosecution.
Another marriage of convenience.
More importantly is why she wasn’t disbarred after fleeing as a fugitive! AG? Chief Justice? There were complaints filed against Ms Bodden before her final exit from Cayman. This allowed her to continue her charade.
Why does this make the local news!!!!
Great, if she ever collects maybe she will pay me the approximately $3500 she’s has owed me since 2003.
She owes more money than that.
Please get in line, she owes me over $7000 confirmed through the Courts!!
Except you are now statute barred so she doesn’t owe you any more.
think he misunderstood hot yoga for HOT yoga..
This was internationally publicized, where is the international arrest warrant? Deportation order from US?
Who she for?
She is an Indian national who moved to Cayman and married (and then divorced) a Bodden.
why is this local news 😐
Used to live here; was/is married to a Caymanian.
3:26, as Captain Obvious, I will point you towards the link in her last name……..
She is not a wealthy woman if the guy is bankrupt!