Bikram Choudhury in 2007. Photo by yanivnord/Creative Commons
A judge Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for the founder of Bikram Yoga, who was ordered in 2016 to pay $6.47 million to a former legal adviser after a jury found he wrongfully punished her for speaking out against harassment of women in the workplace.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward Moreton issued the order and set bail at $8 million for Bikram Choudhury in the lawsuit brought by Minakshi Jafa-Bodden.
Choudhury has allegedly ignored court orders to produce assets to the plaintiff in satisfaction of the January 2016 verdict.
Jafa-Bodden began working for Choudury in March 2011 and said she initially received praise for her work. But she said that after she began investigating lawsuits against the company, including one by a black employee complaining of discrimination, she began to experience a backlash from Choudhury.
Jafa-Bodden, now 47, sued Choudhury and his West Los Angeles-based Yoga College of India in June 2013, alleging she was fired in retaliation for complaining about and investigating the harassment of women in his company.
Choudhury teaches the “hot yoga” technique in which sessions are conducted in temperatures that often are above 100 degrees.
–City News Service
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