The guru of a bankrupt Norcross Hindu temple, already in federal custody, was re-indicted Friday on 32 counts of fraud and obstruction.
Annamalai Annamalai, a native of India who also goes by the name “Dr. Commander Selvam,” was arraigned in December on 22 counts, including conspiracy, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering.
According to federal prosecutors, the income generated through the Hindu Temple and Community Center of Georgia was used to fund Annamalai and his family’s lavish lifestyle. The self-proclaimed commander owned numerous homes and properties and luxury vehicles, including a million-dollar mansion in Duluth, said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
Annamalai is also charged with filing a false 2007 tax return and failing to disclose his financial interest in overseas bank accounts.
Last year, a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee alleged that the guru had funneled more than $1 million from the temple to accounts in the names of his wife, two children and assorted priests.
Annamalai was arrested in Texas last November following the initial indictment and has been denied bond repeatedly.
In 2011 he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the government was out to get him.
“These guys want to shut my mouth, and they want to steal my wealth,” said Annamalai, who relocated to Dayton, Ohio, in June 2010. His activities drew almost immediate scrutiny there, and by 2012 the guru moved to Baytown, Texas.
Annamalai opened the Norcross temple — with a gaudy purple exterior adorned in green neon — in 2005, and by the following year he was under investigation by Gwinnett County police, who, in 2008, charged him with theft and practicing medicine without a license. Those charges were later dismissed, but Annamalai suggested they spawned the federal probe that began in 2011.
He has fought back by filing several lawsuits in civil courts alleging breach of contract against individuals he claimed had procured his religious services then failed to pay. Meanwhile, Annamalai faces mounting debts, including $600,000 owed to the Internal Revenue Service.
IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica F. Hyman-Pillot said Friday her unit has “followed the money trail to ensure that these actions do not go unpunished.”
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