Lakireddy Bali Reddy

Lakireddy Bali Reddy
Born1937 (1937)
Velvadum, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, British India
Died (aged 84)
Occupation(s)landlord, investor
Conviction(s)Immigration fraud, transportation of minors for illegal sexual activity
Criminal penalty97 years in jail, US$2 million in restitution

Lakireddy Bali Reddy (1937 – November 8, 2021) was an Indian and American landlord, convicted felon, and chairman of the Lakireddy Balireddy College of Engineering in Andhra Pradesh.[1][2] Reddy exploited the Indian caste system to bring young Indian women and girls to Berkeley, California.[3] From 1986 to 1999, he and his family members and associates forced them into servitude and sexual slavery.[4]

Reddy came to the United States in 1960 to study engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. By 1975, Reddy had opened a successful Indian cuisine restaurant in downtown Berkeley. He used its profits to purchase over 1,000 run-down apartments, making him, by the year 2000, the largest and wealthiest landlord in the city (other than the University of California), with a worth estimated at US$69 million.[1]

In 2000, Reddy was indicted by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California who charged him with sex trafficking, visa fraud, and tax code violations[1] following a lengthy investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor, and the Berkeley Police Department.

On June 21, 2001, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California announced that Reddy pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit immigration fraud, two counts of transportation of minors for illegal sexual activity, and one count of subscribing to a false tax return for which he was fined US$2 million (~$3.29 million in 2023) and sentenced to serve a prison term of 97 years in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.[1]

Reddy's case ultimately served as the building block for California's anti-trafficking movement.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference latimes-2001-11-25 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Lakireddy Bali Reddy College Of Engg". www.lbrce.ac.in. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  3. ^ Lorentzen, Lois (2014). Hidden Lives and Human Rights in the United States: Understanding the Controversies and Tragedies of Undocumented Immigration. Praeger. p. 142.
  4. ^ Dinkelspiel, Frances (May 30, 2013). "Sid Lakireddy sues rent board candidates for libel". Berkeleyside. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  5. ^ "How an infamous Berkeley human trafficking case fueled reform | San Francisco Public Press". sfpublicpress.org. February 16, 2012. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.