Wikipedia's article on Kirtanananda Swami (Swami Bhaktipada, born Keith Ham), co-founder and longtime spiritual leader of the New Vrindaban ISKCON community in West Virginia. Reliable for the documentary timeline: his 1968 founding role, his expulsion by ISKCON's Governing Body Commission on 16 March 1987 for defying ISKCON policy and claiming sole spiritual authority as Prabhupada's heir, his 1990 indictment on racketeering, mail fraud and conspiracy to murder charges, his 1991 conviction on nine of eleven counts, and his 1996 guilty plea to one racketeering count. Community-edited; used here alongside a CBS News obituary that independently confirms the conviction and sentence.
Facts
Citation
AuthorWikipedia contributors
PublisherWikipedia
Publication Year2026
URLhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtanananda_Swami
Source Typereference
Assessment
Reliability Tier3
Bare Wikipedia community article, tier 3, matching this corpus's settled precedent for this source class. NotesTier 3: a community-edited tertiary reference, used here only for the documentary timeline (dates of founding, expulsion, indictment, conviction and plea) and cross-checked against a CBS News obituary carrying the same facts.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names West Virginia directly: "the New Vrindaban ISKCON community in West Virginia."
Claims Backed By This Source (10 claims)
This source backs 10 claims across the atlas. As facts: 8 well-attested. As cited relationships: 1 holds. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 9 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 holds.
- Articles, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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