Yoga chain leaders arrested on tax fraud charges, accused of stashing cash from donations in tissue boxes and guitar cases

• Federal prosecutors said leaders of a national yoga chain avoided paying taxes between 2013 and 2020.
• The yoga business made over $20 million, funding lavish lifestyles for the three leaders.

The US Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that three leaders of a national chain of donation-based yoga studios were arrested and charged with tax fraud after almost a decade of not filing tax returns or paying taxes.

According to federal prosecutors, the founder of Yoga to the People, Gregory Gumucio, with fellow leaders Michael Anderson and Haven Soliman, didn't file tax returns for themselves or for the business, or pay any income tax between 2013 and 2020. Between 2010 and 2020, the group brought in $20 million, according to authorities.

"As alleged, the defendants operated a lucrative nationwide yoga business, which brought in over $20 million and netted them each substantial sums, permitting them to live lavish lifestyles," Damian Williams, US attorney for the southern district of New York, said in a press release.

Their "lavish lifestyles" allegedly include frequently traveling abroad, fancy meals and clothing, NFL season tickets, and taking care of horses.

Yoga to the People, which was founded in 2006, had 20 yoga centers around the country, but closed them in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Justice's press release on the case says the three leaders "used various methods to evade taxes," including collecting payments in cash into tissue boxes, "paying yoga teachers in cash and 'off the books,'" not allowing teachers to count cash from yoga students, and requiring studio managers to bring cash to Gumucio's apartment where it was kept in guitar cases.

All three leaders were arrested on Wednesday in Washington and are waiting for preliminary court hearings in that state. The three leaders didn't give employees tax documentation, didn't have a corporate headquarters, didn't keep books and records, used money from the business to pay for personal things, and used "nominees to disguise their connection to various entities," the DOJ said.

Two of the three leaders submitted fake tax returns for a loan and even an apartment, according to the government agency.

Authorities accused Gumucio of targeting and grooming people, "typically young women," with the promise of being owners of some of the yoga studios, while "he generally controlled business decisions, took a cut of their proceeds, and the nominees generally took on meaningful financial risk."

Around the time the yoga studios closed during the pandemic, Gumucio was facing allegations of sexual and psychological abuse to staff members. He's denied the allegations against him.