NITHYANANDA FACES FRESH COMPLAINT OF FRAUD AND RACKETEERING IN USA

1 more complaint has been filed against Nithyananda in USA for FRAUD AND DECEIT, RACKETEERING, CIVIL CONSPIRACY and UNFAIR BUSINESS PRACTICES, cheating the US government and donors by misusing the charitable, tax-exempt 501(c) status. The complaint (Case no. EDCV13-363-JGB, filed on 27^th Feb 2013 at the US District Court, Central District of California) has been filed by several ex-donors against Nithyananda, his secretaries and his organizations, allege that Nithyananda and his secretaries blatantly misrepresented Nithyananda as a Brahmachari, sanyasi living a simple life, and misrepresented the organizations as charitable institutions benefitting the society and extracted crores of rupees from them. But in reality Nithyananda’s intentions were to cheat the public, devotees and the US government by misusing his position as the leader of these organizations and charitable tax-exempt (501(c)) status of his organizations to privately benefit from it (refer pg 50 of complaint). The ex-donors have demanded the return of around $800,000 (around Rs. 4.5 crores) collected from them through fraud and deceit. However, the court could award 3 times that amount (almost Rs. 14 crores) as compensation, if the racketeering charges are confirmed in a trial.

The defendants named in the complaint are: (i) Nithyananda (Accused 1 in India), (ii) Gopal Reddy Sheelum @ Nithya Bhaktananda (Accused 2 in India) – already declared FRAUD by US Court in July 2012 in another case 5:11-CV-01304 SVW (SPx), Popatlal Savla vs Nithyananda Foundation (iii) Siva Vallabhaneni @ Nithya Sachitananda (Accused 3 in India), (iv) Nithyananda Foundation – also declared FRAUD by US Court in July 2012 in case no. 5:11-CV-01304 SVW (SPx), Popatlal Savla vs Nithyananda Foundation, (v) Life Bliss Foundation in Montclair (Los Angeles), California (vi) Nithyananda Dhyanapaatem Temple and Cultural Center (NDTCC) in Montclair (Los Angeles), California and (vii) Dhyanapeetam Charitable Trust in Bidadi, India

In July 2012, in the same California court, a jury reviewed all evidence and found Nithyananda Foundation and Gopal Reddy Sheelum guilty of committing fraud against another ex-donor Mr. Popatlal Savla and ordered them to return the $1.5 Million (~ Rs 8 crore) that was fraudulently obtained from him (see link below for judgment from that case). But the details of the allegations (which are explained below) and evidence presented in this latest complaint shockingly exposes well planned efforts and criminal intent of Nithyananda and his secretaries Gopal Reddy Sheelum (@Bhaktananda, A2) and Siva Vallabhaneni (@ Sachitananda, A3) to cheat the public and government.

The allegations in the complaint and other sections of interest are briefly explained below:

·  Fraud and Deceit (Refer complaint, Pg 17, 25, 28, 29, 37, 39-40, 47, 50-51)

Publicly and privately Nithyananda over emphasized that he lived a very simple life and he was a Brahmachari Sanyasi (Pg 17). He intentionally misrepresented his organizations as charitable tax-exempt (501(c) status) institutions exclusively for charitable activities for the benefit of the society. But in fact it was benefitting Nithyananda his secretaries, and other individuals, as large amounts collected in US were transferred to Nithyananda’s bank account. (Pg 28, 37)

· Nithyananda confessed about Sex with many and video being authentic: (refer Pg 25)

Nithynanda personally confessed to donors in March 2010 about video being true (not morphed as he alleged later), that he had sex with many persons, that the sex-contract (i.e. NDA or  Non-Disclosure Agreements) were being used for many years (atleast since 2005). Nithyananda also admitted that he misrepresented his organization as being charitable entities, because most of the money collected in USA through his organizations was sent to Nithyananda. (Refer Pg 25 for more details). Nithyananda and his secretaries have also confirmed about existence of the NDA (Non-Diclosure Agreement, better known as “sex contract”).  (refer Pg 40)

· Financial fraud by Nithyananda organizations: (refer Pg 28, 29, 47)

Nithyananda organization cannot account for more than $2 million, they have no records of how they spent $3.6 million!!! Based on evidence in previous trial (in Popatlal Savla vs. Nithyananda Foundation), an expert testified that Nithyananda entities have 2 sets of books, and worst of all, the books (financial records) were cooked to make $2 million profit turn into $2 million loss. More details in pg 28,29, 47

· Civil Conspiracy (refer Pg 29-33)

Nithyananda and his secretaries have elaborately planned to destroy evidence and strip all the assets of entities in Nithyananda organizations, to avoid paying if they face lawsuits. Nithyananda and his secretaries specifically discussed that many people have expressed about sexual abuse incidents happening to them, and so they were concerned about potential lawsuits. (Pg 31). Details of plans and email discussions are in pg 29-33 & Exhibit F

·  Racketeering (pg 16)

Nithyananda and his secretaries Gopal (Bhaktananda) and Siva (Sachitananda) operated the assets of the charitable organizations as their own personal ATM and piggy bank. Large sums of money moved from USA to India through Nithyananda’s brother’s company called “Nithyananda Import Export”.

While Nithyananda claims to have no connections whatsoever with Nithyananda Foundation or his other organizations, the complaint infact goes to say that Nithyananda controlled the organizations to such a great degree that Nithyananda and his Organizations are one and the same, there is no separation between them (Refer pg 13-15)

This latest complaint against Nithyananda, which is similar to a class action lawsuit, was filed by 6 ex-donors on 28^th Feb 2013. Interestingly, around the same time 3 years ago (on 2^nd Mar 2010), truth about Nithyananda came to light!

Links to related documents:

FRAUD complaint against Nithyananda by ex-donors in Feb 2013 in California, USA:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/133256203/New-Complaint-of-FRAUD-and-RACKETEERING-against-Nithyananda-in-USA-Feb-2013

FRAUD Verdict against Nithyananda by California Court:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/133252348/Nithyananda-Foundation-Fraud-Verdict-July-2012

FRAUD complaint against Nithyananda’s secretary and organization by Popatlal Savla, in California, USA

http://www.scribd.com/doc/133258147/FRAUD-complaint-against-Nithyananda-by-Ex-donor-Popatlal-Savla-Extracts

Complaint copy can also be obtained from the court website at http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/records where  “Public Access to Court’s Electronic Records” are at: http://www.pacer.gov/findcase.html

Nithyananda Ranjitha Video CD is genuine: CID

The cult of preying and feeding on anxieties

The man who passed himself off as Paramahamsa Nithyananda for seven years, promised instant spirituality to hundreds, perhaps even thousands, across India and abroad.
It might be too early to brand Nithyananda as a conman, but what is emerging is that he is a psychopath who exploited people’s credulity and played on the minds of youthful devotees who, before joining his cultic order, might have demonstrated symptoms of psychic distress, anxiety, depression, apathy, disinterest, meaninglessness, isolation, social alienation and confusion. As a normative social system, Nithyananda’s cultic order is an alternative healing mechanism for the existential crises of contemporary youth.

Nithyananda, of course, is no paramahamsa. He is an ordinary man who was intelligent enough to capitalise on his youthful disciples’ loss of faith in the “rationalistic western cosmology and loss of the extended family system,” as sociologist Mansell Pattison has pointed out. But Nithyananda also tapped into the dissatisfaction caused by the impact of the prevailing economic paradigm which has created stress and anxiety, especially among those in the 30-40 age group whose members may have deliberately turned away from traditional psychotherapies toward his religious cult as the ultimate remedy for their anxieties.

These young men and women found in him and his cult — which is a strange and often frightening mix of the Vedic and tantric with an attractive and appealing focus on phallus worship — the path to physical and spiritual healing. What might also have appealed to the devotees was the stress on mental seduction and enslavement or mind control, so much so that they were prepared to abandon family, loved ones and well-wishers.

Some psychologists and sociologists agree that intensive conditioning (or brainwashing) is designed to compromise the devotees’ psychological integrity and indoctrinate them in a world view in which the ends (salvation, bliss and even personal health and wealth) justify the means (deceptive recruitment, fraudulent fund-raising and psycho-sexual practices).

The rest of Nithyananda’s so-called spiritual and healing prowess was built by aggressive and purposeful public relations directed not at the poor from our urban ghettos or despoiled rural backwaters. Rather, these are middle class, affluent, educated, and sophisticated youth. A network of branch heads in some southern Indian cities and those in the United States, mostly non-resident Indians with deep pockets helped Nithyananda catapult to spiritual stardom. It would not be out of place to point out here that the website of one of Nithyananda’s subsidiary organisations in US suggests that more than a spiritual enterprise the Nithyananda mission is commercial enterprise.

Brief interviews with some of Nithyananda’s disciples at his ashram near Bangalore and over telephone, with the primary question “what drew you to his order?,” elicited confused response. Emails from followers in support of Nithyananda were also important sources to understand what attracted the youth to his alternative spiritual system that offered a radical world view in distinction from the common culture, with explicit sanctions in regard to one’s behaviour, with a strong emphasis on separatism from the ‘world at large’ that is reflected in some degree of small group communality ranging from total communal living to frequent communal gatherings.

Beliefs
The standard replies typically comprised two strains of belief: a) he helped heal their physical ailments and psychological distress and b) we experienced truth and enlightenment, two very abstract concepts that souls far greater and intellectual than ‘Nithyananda, our Master’ have not been able to fathom within the context of Indian philosophy.

The likes of Osho Rajneesh, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Satya Sai Baba, Ma Amritanandamayi, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar and sundry other self-proclaimed television-propelled godmen have, in their own distinctive styles, tried to peddle Indian spirituality, with their base and esoteric twists, to a gullible audience within India and abroad.

They have met with varied levels of successes and then faded away as the spiritual ferment, shaped in large part by globalisation and television, spawned other unconventional, secretive and deviant cult movements. They were sought to be given legitimacy and acceptability within society by obtaining the crucial backing of political parties and enlisting the support of the rich and the powerful, an approach that has almost always benefited the organisations in more ways than one.

But such groups have often elicited extreme hostility and distrust and have, moreover, been perceived as fundamentally subversive of civil order and the ideals of Hinduism. To some extent, part of the popular uproar about cult groups such as Nithyananda’s comes from bewildered, frightened and angry parents and other elders who cannot comprehend why the youth, otherwise socialised into the mainstream of society with many seeming advantages, should abandon their cultural and religious heritage to enter such ‘separate reality.’

The Nithyananda cult operated as a surrogate extended family and provided novel, if questionable, therapeutic and spiritual alternatives that confer meaning on individual lives and experiences, even if the devotees were deluded into believing so because of their existential vacuum. In doing so, he and some of his close confidantes exploited the weaknesses of existing institutions like Hinduism, family and modern psychiatry.

This is not to say that cults necessarily threaten the social order. After all, people are at liberty to exercise their preference for one religious movement for another. But what may endanger society is the return to obscurantism, superstition and blind faith that once constituted the bane of India.

 A study of Nithyananda’s cultic order — the reference to an ‘energised banyan tree’ and ‘energised puja items,’ besides a host of weird teaching practices that go toward deification of the occult — indicates that its devotees, drunk on their ‘sadguru,’ their ‘Enlightened Master’ of merely seven years’ experience, should exercise some caution in distinguishing between the truly pious and the charlatan.

 http://www.deccanherald.com/content/57807/cult-preying-feeding-anxieties.html