CALIFORNIA: Bikram Choudhury, the embattled Indian American founder of 'Hot Yoga,' has finally settled the sexual harassment lawsuit against him for an undisclosed amount ahead of a June 12 trial. The yoga guru was accused of sexually assaulting Larissa Anderson in 2011 at a teacher training workshop. When she spurned his advances in 2013, Choudhury allegedly blackballed her yoga studio and banned her from Bikram Yoga community, as per the lawsuit.
An arrest warrant was issued for Choudhury on May 27, after he failed to turn over his assets to settle a $6.47 million lawsuit brought about by his former in-house attorney Minakshi Jafa-Bodden. Minakshi has won her suit in January 2016 but is yet to receive her monetary damages. His wife Rajashree filed for divorce in December 2015, amidst news of not one, but six sexual harassment lawsuits against her husband. Meanwhile, Choudhury has reportedly shut down his US operations and moved to Lonavala, a hill station outside of Mumbai. He claims to be broke despite a vintage car collection and a Beverly Hills home.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Doyle, on hearing of the accord reached between plaintiff Larissa Anderson and Choudhury, said, “It was the toughest case we had around here for a while.”
