Lakireddy Bali Reddy

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. Reddy exploited the Indian caste system to bring young Indian women and girls to Berkeley, California. From 1986 to 1999, he and his family members and associates forced them into servitude and sexual slavery.

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 .

Early life and education Reddy was born in 1937 in the village of Velvadam in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. India At age 17, he married a 14-year-old girl. Married three times, Reddy had three sons, Raj, Vijay and Prasad Lakireddy.

Business and trafficking In 1975, Reddy opened the Pasand Madras Indian Cuisine restaurant in downtown Berkeley. Over the years, he used its profits to acquire more than 1,000 run-down apartment buildings. By 2000, he had used its profits to become the second largest property owner in the city, second only to the University of California.

The original nine-count U.S. federal indictment charged Reddy with conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, transportation of minors for illegal sexual activity, and false statements on a tax return.

Reddy died on November 8, 2021, at the age of 84.

Reporting Lakireddy Bali Reddy was the subject of the book Slaves of Berkeley: The Shocking Story of Human Trafficking in the United States by Tim Huddleston. According to Huddleston:

Reddy's crimes have also been cited in the books Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States, Body Evidence: Intimate Violence against South Asian Women in America, Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence, New Slavery: A Reference Handbook, Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade—and How We Can Fight It, and Multicultural Jurisprudence: Comparative Perspectives on the Cultural Defense.

His case reportedly inspired changes to California's human trafficking laws in 2005 and was part of Congressional testimony on the proposed Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2007, as well as the report of the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery Task Force.