BY: NIMAI PANDIT DASA
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK — INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, INC. 197 S Ocean Avenue, Freeport, New York 11520 (516)223-4909 April 29, 2006
To: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust 9701 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034
Sub: Notice of Demand for documentation of all BBT accounts, its assets and net revenues, by the INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, Inc., the Sole Beneficiary of the BBT, as stated by Srila Prabhupada in the BBT Trust Document dated May 29, 1972.
Dear BBT Trustees,
Please accept my humble obeisances, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
The INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS (ISKCON), Inc., the sole beneficiary of the BHAKTIVEDANTA BOOK TRUST (BBT), hereby formally requests that now and henceforward full and complete accounting of all aspects of all of the Trustees operations be sent, at least annually, to ISKCON, Inc., 197 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, New York 11520, as is clearly specified by existing Trust Law.
California Probate Code Section 16060 expressly states, "The trustee has a duty to keep the Beneficiary reasonably informed of the trust and its administration." Section 16062 (a) further states that "..the Trustee shall account at least annually ..to each Beneficiary to whom income or principal is required or authorized in the Trusteeâs discretion to be currently distributed."
The Beneficiary, ISKCON Inc., in finding no records of such disbursed accounting or other essential data, requires a complete and legally compliant explanation of such lapse, which may have resulted in decisions having been made, and monies disbursed by the BBT Trustees contrary to the express interest of the Beneficiary.
The Beneficiary hereby states its right to transparent reporting by the BBT Trustees regarding specific Entitlements as described in the Body of the BBT Trust Document as well as prevailing Trust Law. A number of legitimately concerned parties have brought up a range of urgent issues regarding the way the BBT Trustees have been handling the Assets, Income, and Properties of this Trust. There may be several possible severe breaches of trust, committed by the trustees, which we would like your response on once you have given us the accounting of the operations of the BBT Trust, which must include the following:
1. List of all properties and assets presently and formerly owned by the BBT which may include books, tapes, video, letters, pictures, real estate, other valuables etc.
2. List of all books of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, which are currently or have formerly been copyrighted by the BBT.
3. List of books authored by Srila Prabhupada that have been printed or re-printed by BBT or its agents and/or assignees with the BBT logo.
4. List of books authored by Srila Prabhupada that have been changed/edited/revised since their first publication and printed by the BBT or its agents and/or assignees, with the BBT logo.
5. List of all books of authors other than Srila Prabhupada, printed with the logo of BBT, and copyrighted/published/marketed by BBT or by entities other than the BBT.
6. List of all Bank accounts and cash reserves, notes or equities that have been or are currently maintained by the BBT.
7. Complete facsimile copies of all bank statements of all BBT bank accounts of all years available but at least since 1998.
8. List of current employees, consultants, contractors, attorneys, accountants, etc, employed, retained or contracted by the BBT as well as any fees, salaries, contract payments, and any other compensation that may comprise an outlay of BBT funds that may increase the over head of the BBT and reduce monies disbursable to the Beneficiary.
9. List of all agents, subcontractors, suppliers, and authorized distribution channels maintained or authorized by the BBT.
10. All current contracts signed by the BBT Trustees with any agents or other representatives of the BBT. Any contracts granted by the BBT must demonstrate the exact means by which they have been legally established by the BBT Trustees under the existing provisions of the BBT Trust language.
11. List of all current licensees of the copyrights owned by the BBT and their contracts including the signers of all contracts and proof that such contracts are in complete compliance with the express language of the BBT Trust.
12. List of all Publishing and/or printing companies contracted by the current BBT Trustees.
13. Third party audited Financial Statements, at least since 1998, which includes internal records not revealed to the IRS, or any double or multiple books kept for confidential reasons.
14. All gross as well as net income collected from the sale of books each year by the present BBT Trustees.
15. All monies of the BBT, disbursed by the present BBT Trustees on various projects showing the corresponding compliance with the BBT Trust Agreement Document of 1972 in regards to the provisions for disbursement of BBT funds.
16. List of any and all actions taken against copyright violations of BBT copyrighted books, or books published with BBT logo, by the present BBT Trustees.
17. Complete verified copies of the minutes of all meetings of the present BBT Trustees as well as providing the Beneficiary notice of and copies of the minutes of all meetings of BBT Trustees in the future.
The Beneficiary hereby formally requests by this notice that all materials listed above be delivered to the Beneficiary and/or the Beneficiaryâs Attorney, in a complete and legal format, fully compliant with Trust Law. These records and other documents must be delivered to the Beneficiary within thirty days from the date of this notice.
If all Trustee meetings have been held according to Trust Law, Minutes kept according to Trust Law, and transparent accounting maintained according to the requirements of the BBT Trust Document, then compliance with the terms of this notice by the Trustees and BBT Accountants should neither be difficult nor time consuming.
For further inquiries please contact Nikhil Gupta (Nimai Pandit Das), President: ISKCON Inc., 197 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, New York 11520 or reach by phone:(516)216-4262.
Your eternal co-servant of Srila Prabhupada, Nikhil Gupta (Nimai Pandit Das) President
Cc: Mr. Emil Beca a.k.a. Svavasa Dasa Mr. Jay Israel a.k.a. HH Jayadvaita Swami Mr. Norman DâCosta a.k.a. Naresvara Dasa
Mr. Michael Auggenthaler a.k.a. Brahma Muhurta Dasa Sri Krishnan Chittur Esq. All Trustees: ISKCON Inc.
ISKCON Long Island the Beneficiary
Courting the BBT - What is the aim?
BY: Das devi dasi
Prabhus, the BBT is authorized, the BBT trustee is authorized. Will you also now, like ISKCON, attempt to bypass the trustee and take it over?
Till that happens, the CA court recognizes that there is a BBT trust holding copyrights of all of Srila Prabhupada's books. That there are currently 4 trustees of that trust Jayadvaita, Svavasa, Naresvara and Brahma Muhurta. This is from a stipulated order signed in 1998 by Judge Shook. Neither Hansaduttan nor any of us can wish it away.
Till now no one WITH STANDING has brought in a claim to the contrary. So the order stands.
Only ISKCON, Inc. as the exclusive beneficiary of BBT can step in. The first step is to ask for accounts and reports. That we did. Next step is to request CA Superior court to order the trustees to show accounts and reports to the officers of ISKCON, Inc. That is what we need to do now.
And this is what they are trying to prevent tooth and nail. Get us out somehow. Whole of last month some goons sent by the "GBC" were trying to barge into the Freeport temple. They were finally trespassed out and shown the door by the local cops.
The next step after the accounts show will solve the whole problem. Now how do we go about doing that, only a handful and our lawyer team knows it. Let us leave it at that for now. Suffice to say that the trust is made for the beneficiary, trustees are kind of employees, or caretakers. They need to be working FOR the beneficiaries benefit! Otherwise....
Please join this effort by distributing each book praying for success from Lord Krishna in the heart. By hearing the sincere prayers of His Sankirtan devotees, Krishna will surely oblige. Yada yada hi dharmasya....
Your servant,
Nimai Pandit Das