You have probably heard the ad: a doctor-designed air purifier, ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of viruses, a discount code read out on a podcast you trust. The two people who own it have a second business they do not advertise, and it is forty years old.
AirDoctor and AquaTru are real products, sold on Amazon and at Walmart, vouched for by the therapists and the television neuroscientist you trust. Peter Spiegel and Katie Williams run the company out of Sherman Oaks. Per California’s own filing, the same two people are the chief executive and chief financial officer of a Hindu temple, and the temple’s guru is a fugitive convicted on twenty counts of molesting children.
Nobody buys an air purifier expecting to find a fugitive. One of the two founders signed the bond that kept the guru free. The other is quoted, by name, saying she takes happiness in funding his temple. Her temple files nothing, and the trust in India files nothing that can be read from here; the one arm of the sect that does file in full, its Canadian charity, shows about half its money crossing to India. It begins with a purifier. It ends on a docket.
Read the investigation
Start with the whole case from the court file: the conviction, the bond, the victim suits, the escape, and the money to India.
Open the first thread →ExploreSee the connection map
Every company, temple, fund, and person in the story, and how they connect, as an evidence board you can explore.
Open the board →VerifyCheck the record
The primary source behind every claim: the bond file, the deed, the tax returns, the SEC raise, the EPA penalty.
Open the ledger →An air purifier runs to a fugitive child-molester’s sect, a ten-million-dollar bond, and a million dollars a year crossing to India. Follow any step into the record.
- ADJUDICATEDA Hays County jury convicted the sect’s guru on twenty counts of molesting children; he fled and was sentenced to 280 years in absentia.read the case →
- CONFIRMEDPeter Spiegel is the court-recorded surety and indemnitor on the $10 million bond that let the guru travel and flee.see the escape →
- CONFIRMEDSpiegel and Williams are the CEO and CFO of the sect’s newest temple, per California’s own filing.see the filing →
- CONFIRMEDThe sect’s Canadian arm sends about a million dollars a year, half its intake, to India, on a public return.see the money →
- CONFIRMEDA 2021 EPA order penalized AirDoctor $44,500 for importing misbranded pesticide devices, addressed to Peter Spiegel by name.see the machine →
- Nothing here finds that Spiegel or Williams knew of the abuse before the conviction, and neither was charged with a crime. What the record shows is documented association, financing, and concealment. The law thread walks every element and grades it.read the case, graded →
“I take happiness in contributing to Barsana Dham.”
Katie Williams, co-CEO of Ideal Living, quoted by name in the Austin American-Statesman (Eric Dexheimer, 2009). Barsana Dham is the sect’s US arm, since renamed Radha Madhav Dham. See the archived article →
Counted directly from the published record.
The same eight-grade ladder runs through every report, the evidence vault, and the map, so you can see exactly how far the record carries each claim. Records are confirmed facts; characterization and intent are held as inferences beside the innocent reading; nothing is called proven that the record does not prove.
| ADJUDICATED | Decided by a court, on the record. |
| ADMITTED | Established by a party’s own admission or a consent decree. |
| CONFIRMED | Established by a primary document or official record. |
| CORROBORATED | Supported by multiple independent sources. |
| ASSERTED | Alleged or sworn, but not yet decided. |
| INFERENCE | A reasoned read of the record, not a direct finding. |
| UNRESOLVED | Open, the record does not yet settle it. |
| REFUTED | Contradicted by the record. |
Explore the record
The connection board
Every person, entity, temple, and fund in the story, and how they connect, as an evidence board you can explore.
Open the board →The recordThe evidence vault
The primary source behind every claim: dockets, deeds, tax returns, the SEC raise, the regulatory orders.
Open the ledger →ReportsAll ten reports
The full investigation, newest first, each thread graded and linked to its source.
Browse the reports →Colophon
What if you don’t believe it? Good. You should not take anything on the internet on faith. That is why every claim is graded and every source linked: open the underlying record and reach your own judgment. Where a claim cannot be sourced it is marked unresolved or held, not asserted as fact.
Corrections and right of reply are welcome. If a fact is wrong or a grade too strong, use the correction and right-of-reply form and it will be checked against the record. The only criminal conviction referenced anywhere on this site is that of Prakashanand Saraswati; every other person named is presumed to have acted lawfully.