Federal marshals traveled on April 27 to Dayton to deliver subpoenas to four Hindu priests associated with the temple. They are set to appear before a federal grand jury Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
A U.S. Justice Department spokesman reached Friday would neither confirm nor deny a federal investigation into Annamalai.
Annamalai relocated his wife and two children along with his temple to Dayton in June 2010. He purchased the former KeyBank building, 32 N. Main St., in downtown Dayton, along with property at 2222 Olive Road, Dayton, the latter site for a temple.
His attorney, John Scaccia, asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James E. Massey to temporarily stop proceedings in the bankruptcy case “until the dust settles” in the federal criminal probe. At the very least, Scaccia asked the judge not to draw any adverse inferences about his client’s refusal to answer questions or provide documentation about his financial dealings to the bankruptcy trustee.
Scaccia said Friday he learned of the investigation when the subpoenaed priests contacted him. He said he has “reason to believe” either the Internal Revenue Service or Immigration and Customs Enforcement are the agencies investigating Annamalai, who has not been subpoenaed.
Scaccia, who is based in Springboro, said there are concerns about the temple’s financial records and how cash was disbursed, but that issues in the case “appear to be much overblown.”
On Thursday, Massey denied Annamalai’s request to stay the case. He granted Annamalai 30 days to try to come to a settlement to repay debtors, including $600,000 allegedly owed to the IRS. Failing that, the judge will weigh whether to dispose of the case by summary judgment or go to trial.
The bankruptcy trustee has accused Annamalai of funneling more than $1 million from the temple to business entities he controls and to accounts in the names of his wife, two children and his priests. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in temple funds were used to pay the mortgage on Annamalai’s million-dollar mansion in Duluth, as well as his luxury vehicles and credit card bills, according to the court record.
After the hearing, Annamalai said he never made money for himself, it was all for the temple. “These guys want to shut my mouth and they want to steal my wealth. I will fight for the truth.”
Scaccia blamed Annamalai’s current troubles on criminal charges filed more than two years ago by the Gwinnett County Police Department. Annamalai was arrested on charges of credit card fraud and practicing medicine without a license in 2008. The charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence.
After Annamalai’s arrest, banks did not want to loan him money, the temple went bankrupt and some followers drifted away, Scaccia said. Those troubles also forced the guru to relocate his the temple to Dayton.
Dayton Daily News Staff Writer Tim Tresslar contributed to this report.
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