NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor argued Wednesday that the founder of an international yoga business arrested on tax charges has a history of arrests and is a flight risk and a danger to witnesses in his case, but a judge disagreed. They confined the man to his Washington home.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer E. Willis set Gregory Gumusio’s bail at $250,000 and barred him from contact with his former co-workers at Yoga to Pizza.
The business operates nearly 20 locations in the United States, including San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, California. Tempe, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; and cities in Colorado and Washington. It also operated in Spain and Israel and was looking to expand to other countries when it closed two years ago.
Gumusio was arrested last week on charges of evading taxes for more than a decade while running an international yoga company that generated more than $20 million in revenue.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Neff in Washington tried to modify the bail conditions originally set when Gumusio was arrested last week along with two others, including his romantic partner.
Neff wanted Gumusio under house arrest and supervised release, and asked for $1 million bail, saying the evidence was overwhelming and that Gumusio could end up spending years in prison.
Gumusio, 61, of Catlamet, Washington, said he has been arrested 15 times and has previously given at least six aliases, three Social Security numbers and three places of birth. And Neff said Gumusio has been arrested three times on flight or eluding charges, though he did not say whether any of the arrests were convicted.
He also said the consultant was a fugitive living in Mexico and had ties to a former member of organized crime who was lurking around the business. And he says two former business associates told him about the stressful situations they had with him after they left the company.
The judge rejected some of the prosecutor’s requests and Gumusio was remanded in custody before the new trial. She said it was in 1992, although bail conditions should be stricter than those set by Washington.
She ordered Gumusio to stay 60 miles (97 km) from the Canadian border and away from any airfields.
Defense attorney Marne Lennox had asked for bail of $100,000, saying prosecutors denied Gumusio had extensive ties abroad and generally exaggerated Neff’s claims.
Neff asked Gumusio to be banned from possessing any weapons or explosives. “Frankly, it’s too strong,” Lennox said.
She said he was a family man who had a close relationship with his three children.
