Case in point, the Chaplain of the University of Florida Krishna House / ISKCON of Gainesville, Carl Woodham, ordered last October a brand new extravagant swim spa for his private residence, according to a Notice of Commencement filed with the Building Division of Alachua County. The estimated cost of this spa we believe is around $20,000.
Kids everywhere are being recruited / indoctrinated into the ISKCON Hare Krishna group and, according to many ex-devotees, are being manipulated into believing that the material world is evil and to give away their possessions / savings to ISKCON. This of course forces them to be poor and live in the Krishna temples / boarding houses, further trapping them inside the organization by making them completely dependent. At the same time however, it seems that their gurus are free to live in private residences and buy swim spas (contrary to their preaching, they are pampering themselves).
Moreover, Woodham claimed once to Tibor Stern, the President of F.A.C.T., during a phone conversation that he earns a mere $1500 a month, just over the minimum wage rate in Florida. If so, how could he possibly afford to purchase a $20,000 swim spa?
Judge for yourself. We uncovered a lease agreement between the Alachua ISKCON temple (the property owner of a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house) and renters that states, “Elias Johannson [on behalf of ISKCON] will collect rent the first of every month in cash (preferably larger bills), to bring it to the Alachua ISKCON temple the next Sunday to the landlord.”
Needless to say this organization prefers to deal will cash, which of course is untraceable. On the campus of UF alone they sell around 1,000 meals a day at $5 each, none of which has to be reported to the IRS because they are classified as a “church”. According to Guidestar.org, one of the largest non-profit information reporting services in the world, ISKCON declares $0 to the IRS (see image). Even though legally allowed to do this, contrary to their example there are many religious organizations with the same IRS tax-exempt filing status that still account for and report their income every year, which we believe is the earmark of any trustworthy organization who is making sure to be honest and transparent.
We will put all our effort and forces together with different organizations to change this terrible law. All religious organizations that receive funds from the public should be completely transparent in our opinion, and certainly not requiring payments in cash, “preferably in large bills”.
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