Hot Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury's plea dismissed by California court

In an 11page document the Court of Appeal of the State of California on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury in a sexual harassment case filed by his former inhouse counsel Minakshi JafaBodden The document on the dismissal of the appeal states It has long been the rule in California that an appealing party may not flagrantly disobey court orders concerning the subject of the appeal without risking dismissal This case presents no exception and we dismiss the appeal under the disentitlement doctrineAlso read Mumbai woman who nailed Hot Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury recounts her ordealA June 2002 image of Bikram Choudhury teaching a class in Los Angeles PicGetty ImagesJafaBodden had in 2013 filed a case of sexual harassment and wrongful termination against Choudhury In 2016 she was awarded punitive and compensatory damages amounting to 73 million but is still to collect on the same While Carla Minnard of the Minnard Law Firm one of JafaBoddens attorneys says the dismissal of the appeal is a big win collecting on the judgment a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Choudhury to hand over funds from his book sales and 700 yoga studios to JafaBodden and also his collection of 43 luxury cars remains a priorityAlso read Hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury insisted on doing business in bed claims Minakshi JafaBoddenSurvivor Minakshi JafaBodden centre with her lawyers Mark Quigley left and Carla Minnard in the Court of Appeal on August 16Excerpts from an email interviewChoudhurys appeal has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal California What significance does this judgment hold for youThis is a very significant and important victory for us It means Bikram can no longer say that this matter is still unresolved He lost his appeal and the jurys unanimous verdict which held him liable for sexual harassment discrimination and wrongful termination is final We are extremely gratified by the Court of Appeals decision It is the right decision in my opinion and sends a clear message to sleazy defendants who think they can game the systemAlso read Hot yoga founder Bikram Choudhury asked to pay nearly 1mn in sexual abuse caseMinakshi JafaBoddenWhat do you plan to do nextOur next steps are to begin enforcement of the warrant which has just reached INTERPOL We hope to have him in custody and returned to California before the end of the year In the meantime we continue to pursue his assets and the multiple fraudulent transfers of assets that he has undertaken since the verdict He has fraudulently transferred a number of assets such as his intellectual property to his children in an effort to evade payment of the judgmentAlso readBikram Yoga founder denies sexual assault allegationsHe has also created phony companies for the sole purpose of hiding assets The fight is far from over We absolutely must collect on the judgment If not there will be no accountability and the jurys verdict while it will still be an important moral victory and vindication of Minakshis struggle will not have the teeth sufficient to make an individual like Bikram understand that he cannot engage in this illegal outrageous and vile conduct without paying the price We obtained a warrant for Bikram Choudhurys arrest and his bail has been set at 8 million Once we have him picked up by law enforcement he will be returned to the US and held in custodyHave you received any part of the monetary component of the January judgmentNothing yetBikrams fleet of 43 cars which had also been awarded to JafaBodden had gone missing and the Los Angeles Police department was notified What happened to this investigationThe FBI recently began assisting Ms Bodden in handling this matter and in connection with the issuance of the warrant for Bikram Choudhurys arrestWould you have any clue about Bikrams last known locationWe are working with INTERPOL and very recently are being assisted by the FBI We believe he is still in Mexico although we received recent intelligence that he may have left Mexico and traveled under someone elses passport and returned to India If it is determined that he is back in India we will be working with the Indian law enforcement to arrest him on the warrant and return him to the USAlso readDisgraced hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury winds up US business sets shop in Lonavla