Now that Yogi Bhajan's Sikh Dharma Worldwide Organization has won their big lawsuit against Yogi Bhajan's Unto Infinity Board, will SDW continue their anti Sikh agenda?

by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 13:18 (4733 days ago) @ Gursant Singh
edited by Gursant Singh, Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 17:19

Judge Issues Ruling

It's clear from the Judge's ruling that Yogi Bhajan had total control of western Sikhs and Bhajan's Sikh Dharma in promoting anti- Sikh tantric yoga and occult astrology. Yogi Bhajan acted like a mini-pope! Judge Roberts says, "During his lifetime, Yogi Bhajan maintained exclusive central authority over the organizations he created to advance the world view and practices he taught. He(Yogi Bhajan) maintained all the reins of ultimate power and direction in his own hands until his final incapacity and death" Dr. Trilochan Singh says in a book critical of Yogi Bhajan, "Yogi Bhajan was absolutely frank in what he said and I believe every word of it. I asked him Is Sikhism the core of his teachings of Tantric Yoga? Which of these two contradictory disciplines is his basic philosophy? To this question he perhaps honestly replied that Tantra (White as he calls it) is his basic faith while Sikhism is only an off-shoot of his Tantric system."

'Findings and Conclusions'
Here is what Judge Roberts says:

The dispute involves a Russian nesting doll of nonprofit and for-profit entities, organized by and through Yogi Bhajan beginning in the mid-1970’s. Certain organizations were devoted to education; to maintenance of spiritual records; to promotion of religious functions, such as the ordination and instruction of Sikh Dharma ministers, and other nonprofit objectives. Other profit-making organizations were formed by individual adherents, who contributed the ownership of the businesses to provide a source of support, prestige, and employment for the Sikh Dharma community. Yogi Bhajan, the founder of the Western movement of Sikh Dharma that is involved in this controversy, and a teacher of the related practices of Kundalini yoga, came to the United States from India. A charismatic leader and teacher, Yogi Bhajan attracted a body of adherents to some or all of the practices and precepts of Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere. This body of adherents is sometimes referred to, here, as the Sikh Dharma community and its institutions as the Yogi Bhajan inspired organizations. Yogi Bhajan taught Kundalini yoga and, in that role, introduced many students to his spiritual beliefs as well.

Most of the individuals involved in the present controversy initially became interested in Sikh Dharma through seeking to learn the practice of yoga, on or near college campuses, as young men and women during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

During his lifetime, Yogi Bhajan maintained exclusive central authority over the organizations he created to advance the world view and practices he taught. An early corporate holder of the assets developed in this process was a California entity, Siri Sikh Sahib of Sikh Dharma, (SSS of SD) a California corporation sole. Such an organization is uniquely and by legal definition religious, as an entity that exists to serve as the repository of assets held by a religious officer solely in his or her role as prelate in the religious organization, and not in a private or personal capacity.

Later, the seat of the corporate network shifted to Oregon and New Mexico entities, including nonprofit and for-profit entities held by the nonprofits. (SSS of SD, the California corporation sole, was designed to terminate at Yogi Bhajan’s death, and its assets to be transferred to an Oregon religious corporation.) In the design and conduct of many or most of these later-founded organizations, Yogi Bhajan was assisted by Roy Lambert, a Portland lawyer with the firm of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt. After Yogi Bhajan’s death, Lambert continued to serve as legal counsel for many of the Yogi Bhajan inspired entities, including Unto Infinity, LLC, and KIIT, defendants here.

Yogi Bhajan also designated an inner circle of trusted lieutenants to occupy positions in the control and administration of his interlocking organizations, but he maintained all the reins of ultimate power and direction in his own hands until his final incapacity and death.3

The Yogi Bhajan affiliated organizations included for-profit enterprises including, most importantly, a private security company, Akal Security, Inc., and a manufacturer and distributor of tea and cereal products, Golden Temple, Inc. The for-profit enterprises were formed by Sikh Dharma adherents and contributed to Yogi Bhajan inspired non-profit entities (initially, Akal was contributed to Sikh Dharma-NM, and Golden Temple, Inc., to Sikh Dharma, Inc.). Their profits provided substantial support to the non-profit activities of the Sikh Dharma affiliated organizations.

In addition to appointing lieutenants to roles in the supervision of his organizations, Yogi Bhajan maintained personal attendants, a group of women upon whom he became dependent for day-to-day and hour-to-hour support and companionship in his home as his health declined toward death from complications of diabetes and kidney failure. In the fall of 2004, this personal staff lived with him in a New Mexico residential compound called the Ranch. They served rotating shifts so that one of them was with him at all times of the day and night.

During Yogi Bhajan’s life, his personal retainers and administrative staff served at very modest compensation; however, it was widely understood that he had assured these personal assistants life-long compensation. This promise was known as the Yogi Bhajan Assurances. In his will, Yogi Bhajan planned to fulfill the promise by creating a trust called the Staff Endowment, to which he gave a half interest in royalties earned by the license of his name and likeness for use on the products of Golden Temple, Inc. The beneficiaries of the Staff Endowment were the former personal retainers and staff, and the income derived by that trust was intended to fund their promised life-time income.

However, after the death of Yogi Bhajan in 2004, the widow of Yogi Bhajan (referred to as Bibiji) challenged the gift of intellectual property rights. As a result, the funding stream for Staff Endowment was cast into doubt. It became questionable whether the funds ever would be paid, because of the claims by Bibiji, still unresolved as of the time of the trial of this matter in 2011.

In 2003, anticipating the need to organize the affiliated entities to function after his death, Yogi Bhajan created Unto Infinity, LLC, an Oregon nonprofit LLC, to act as the administrative center of the organizations comprising his nonprofit and for-profit network of entities. The Organizational Agreement of Unto Infinity provides that the sole original member of Unto Infinity was Yogi Bhajan. Its board of managers was made up of Yogi Bhajan and four of his trusted lieutenants. In a “Proclamation” signed by Yogi Bhajan in June 2004 (when he understood that he was dying, and had discontinued any but palliative care) he stated:

“Whereas the Siri Singh Sahib [the title held by Yogi Bhajan] has the responsibility of promulgating and stating the rules and procedures of the Sikh Dharma,

And

“Whereas there is a need for the orderly and just administration of the Dharma,
“Therefore, I hereby proclaim that Unto Infinity, LLC, is the entity authorized by me to continue to exercise the administrative authority of the office of the Siri Singh Sahib of Sikh Dharma once I no longer occupy that office, in all those cases where authorization by the Siri Singh Sahib [i.e., Yogi Bhajan] is required in the articles, bylaws, or any contractual commitment of a Sikh Dharma affiliated organization.
“This Proclamation is hereby adopted under the authority granted to me as the Siri Singh Sahib of Sikh Dharma, I set my hand and seal this 30 day of June, 2004,

[signed] “Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib
“Harbhajian Singh Khalsa Yogiji”

This proclamation stated that the purpose of Unto Infinity was to serve as the “administrative authority” of the chief office of the religious movement, and consequently to be integral to the religious organizations (although it does not have the effect of altering the corporate documents of the various affected corporations and companies).

An undated Amended and Restated Operating Agreement (Ex. 66) reflects that Yogi Bhajan was replaced as the sole member of Unto Infinity by the Siri Singh Sahib Corporation (SSSC). SSSC is an Oregon nonprofit religious corporation that had been formed to serve as the sole member of Sikh Dharma, Inc., after Yogi Bhajan's death or incapacity. Subsequently, it apparently was given the same role in Unto Infinity. SSSC itself has no members.

Pursuant to the 1997 Articles of SSSC, after the death or incapacity of Yogi Bhajan, the directors of SSSC were to be those persons he had previously designated in a written directive given in confidence to Lambert, as corporate attorney, and to the Siri Sikdar Sahib (or Sahiba) of Sikh Dharma (designated to that post by Yogi Bhajan as his spiritual successor), who would also become a permanent member of that board.

However, after the death of Yogi Bhajan, a succession of Restated Articles for SSSC were filed, each certified by Sopurkh Kaur Khalsa (also a member of the board of Unto Infinity) as president of SSSC as having been adopted by Yogi Bhajan on October 1, 2, and 3 respectively -- the three days leading up to his death.

Lambert denied that Yogi Bhajan had left any designation of a successor board that was sufficiently formal to satisfy the terms of the SSSC articles, and accordingly, in lieu of such a designation, the four-member Unto Infinity board assumed complete control of SSSC after Yogi Bhajan’s death. Because SSSC was the sole (but powerless) member of Unto Infinity, the board of Unto Infinity obtained comprehensive and unchecked control (directly or indirectly) of all other Yogi Bhajan inspired nonprofit and for-profit companies and corporations. The restated Articles designate the remaining managers of Unto Infinity LLC to serve as the board of SSSC, to succeed Yogi Bhajan in that role if no other designation is made. Exs. 104, 105, 106. Parties in this litigation have not asked the court to determine the validity of those changes, and the court therefore does not pass on their validity.

SSSC, the sole member of Unto Infinity, has no operations or property. Its existence, as a member, is a legal requirement for Unto Infinity's existence as a limited liability company.

In this somewhat convoluted manner, the sole successors of Yogi Bhajan, as the ultimate and unlimited managers of the entire network of nonprofit and for-profit affiliated entities, became the members of the Unto Infinity board.

The Unto Infinity board members upon Yogi Bhajan’s death were Siri Ram Kaur Khalsa and defendants Peraim Kaur Khalsa, Siri Karm Kaur Khalsa, and Sopurkh Kaur Khalsa. (Siri Ram Kaur Khalsa resigned from the board after the 2007 transaction that is the center of this controversy but before the complaints were filed in this case. She is not a defendant.)

In 2005, the Unto Infinity board members exercised their power to place defendant Kartar Singh Khalsa on the board as a full voting member. (He had previously served as an ex-officio member.) Kartar Singh Khalsa was also the chief executive officer of Golden Temple, Inc.

The 2007 Operating Agreement of Golden Temple of Oregon LLC.5:

“All of KIIT’s outstanding stock is owned by Unto Infinity, LLC, an Oregon limited liability company. Unto Infinity, LLC is a disregarded entity for income tax purposes and is a division of Siri Singh Sahib Corporation, an Oregon nonprofit corporation …” ,

Although SSSC is the sole member of Unto Infinity, it can neither appoint nor dismiss board members of Unto Infinity (Unto Infinity’s board appoints and dismisses its own members), alter the operating agreement of Unto Infinity, or in any other respect control Unto Infinity. To the contrary, SSSC is limited to act subject to the approval of the Unto Infinity board. For all intents and purposes, Unto Infinity (and its subsidiary KIIT, which has the same board for the transactions relevant here, and which acted jointly with Unto Infinity, by simultaneous decisions of their synonymous boards) is self-governed by a board which is self-perpetuating and self-directed. It is the ultimate authority over Golden Temple and KIIT.

The board members are compensated by self-determined amounts drawn from the for-profit organizations. Primarily because of the success of Akal Security and Golden Temple, the funds available to Unto Infinity have increased sharply since the death of Yogi Bhajan. The compensation of the Unto Infinity managers has also increased (since 2005) to a level at all times in six figures, and as high as $185,000 per year. The board members of Unto Infinity/KIIT meet a handful of times a year, usually by telephone, but, on occasion, in person.

To summarize the identities of the organizations chiefly involved:

a) Khalsa International Industries and Trades Company, Inc. (KIIT), is a holding company organized under Nevada law, having no operations and created in order to receive and hold the shares in Golden Temple of Oregon, Inc., an operating company in the manufacture and distribution of foods in Eugene, Oregon; and Akal Security, Inc., a New Mexico security company which contracts with governmental agencies. KIIT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Unto Infinity.

b. Unto Infinity, LLC (Unto Infinity) is a nonprofit Oregon limited liability company organized to act as the administrative authority of the office of the religious leader of the movement established by Yogi Bhajan. Unto Infinity owns all shares of KITT and has the power and authority to appoint the boards of the religious corporations and nonprofits established by Yogi Bhajan.

c. Siri Sikh Sahib of Sikh Dharma (SSS of SD), is a California corporation sole, a religious corporation holding title to property held in the official capacity of the leader of a church or other religious body. With the death of Yogi Bhajan, SSS of SD was designed to dissolve and to transfer its assets to SSSC. (It has not done so, as a strategic move related to ongoing litigation with Bibiji regarding her claims as heir and widow of Yogi Bhajan)

c. Siri Singh Sahib Corporation (SSSC) is an Oregon religious corporation, organized to act as the successor legal organization to the SSS of SD, the California corporation sole, after the death of Yogi Bahjan and for religious, charitable and educational activities, and to act as “guardian of those assets of the SSS of SD which are conveyed to it, and Unto Infinity, LLC.” Restated Articles of Incorporation, Pl. Ex. 25. SSSC is the sole member of Unto Infinity, but with no authority over it.

SSSC has never had a board of directors and is governed by the Unto Infinity board as an “executive board.”

d. Sikh Dharma, Inc. (SDI) is a nonprofit religious corporation under the California Nonprofit Religious Corporation Law, of which the sole member is Unto Infinity, organized to advance the religion of Sikh Dharma and as an association of religious organizations teaching principles of Sikh Dharma, including by ordination of ministers of divinity and operation of places of worship. It has been active in the promotion of the religion, and its then-directors initiated the private plaintiff’s lawsuit before Unto Infinity exercised its authority to discharge all of them and replace them with directors who withrew SDI’s support of the lawsuit. It was then named as a nominal defendant because the private plaintiffs seek relief including payment of damages to it.

e. Golden Temple, Inc., is a for-profit, Oregon corporation in the food products industry with operations in Eugene, Oregon, and sales nationally. At relevant times, it has manufactured and distributed herbal teas and cereal products. All of the shares of Golden Temple, Inc., were passed (through intermediate steps explained below) through various religious institutions and by 2007 held by Unto Infinity's holding company, KIIT.

f. Akal Security, Inc. (Akal), is a for-profit New Mexico corporation in the business of providing security services to governmental entities. Akal was founded by a member of the Sikh Dharma community, one of the private plaintiffs, Gurutej Singh Khalsa, and he donated it to Sikh Dharma of New Mexico, Inc., (an affiliate of Sikh Dharma, Inc.) on Yogi Bhajan's assurances that Akal would be held to further Sikh Dharma. All Akal shares were transferred (as explained below) ultimately to KIIT.

The valuable assets controlled by Unto Infinity include other assets, such as real property. The complaint as originally framed by private plaintiffs attacked dealings by defendants as to all these assets; however, the controversy developed at trial focused on actions taken with respect to Golden Temple, Inc., and Golden Temple’s European affiliate, KIT-BV, a Netherlands corporation (KIT-BV). Continued at Link

I just received this e-mail from SDW with this spin on the judge's decision:

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December 13, 2011
Dear Members of the Sadh Sangat,

Sat Nam and blessings to all. Today is a joyous day of victory for the Dharma! The Judge issued her Findings and Conclusions (the equivalent of a verdict in a jury trial), and ruled in our favor on all of our claims which were: Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Aiding and Abetting Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Unjust Enrichment. Her ruling is posted in its entirety on the SDW website in the Legal Documents Archive at: Judge's Findings and Conclusion.

Some notable conclusions from the Judge:

"I find established by clear and convincing evidence that a charitable trust existed and that the assets held by Unto Infinity and its subsidiary holding company, including Golden Temple, Inc. were assets held in trust. The trust was dedicated to support and advance the religious tenets and practices espoused by Yogi Bhajan in Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere. Unto Infinity this controlled assets (whether through KIIT, as Unto Infinity's subsidiary and agent, or directly) impressed with a charitable trust."
"The court finds the express designation of SSSC and its subsidiary Unto Infinity as "guardian" of assets from SSS of SD expresses an intent that Unto Infinity hold the assets subject to a fiduciary duty to use the assets for the religious purposes of SSS of SD."
"Repeatedly, and at the instruction of (Roy) Lambert, members of the boards made statements crafted by Lambert to deny that any change in ownership had occurred and to conceal the true nature of the transaction."....."Not only were the public statements prepared by Lambert false, but they were intended by the board members who made the statements to mislead the Sikh Dharma community because the transaction - if fully disclosed- would inspire protest and likely litigation as a violation of trust obligations. All parties understood that the transaction could well constitute such a violation of the entrustment exclusively for religious and charitable purposes and this was the reason for the deception."
"The thorough-going violation by KIIT and Unto Infinity of fiduciary duties to the charitable trust through engaging in the disposition of Golden Temple, Inc, as they did, was proven beyond any doubt."
"Finally, strong, clear and convincing evidence establishes that Golden Temple, LLC, and all proceeds of its business, income, substitutes and assets, including those of KIT-BV, is the property that is impressed with the charitable trust private plaintiffs and the Attorney General seek to vindicate. These findings conclude the liability for unjust enrichment as against GTM and Kartar Singh Khalsa."
"To the extent that individual member managers received funds as a distribution of the proceeds of Golden Temple, therefore, they were unjustly enriched."
The court has requested the parties in the case to submit any additional briefing regarding remedies in light of the findings and conclusions within three weeks of the date of this opinion at which time she will have a hearing on remedies.

Blessings and deep gratitude to the Sangat for their prayers and continued support through this lengthy and challenging legal process. This is a wonderful victory for our Dharma. May we continue forward in unity and purity of consciousness to serve the mission of Sikh Dharma and the legacy of the Siri Singh Sahib (Yogi Bhajan).