Famed Indian fashion designer Anand Jon, who was charged last month with multiple counts of sexual assault (I-W, Mar. 23), was released from detention by an immigration court April 2, although Custody Officer Stewart of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed to India-West that Jon was originally released on Mar. 26 from the Los Angeles County Jail.

Jon was being held in lieu of $1.3 million bail, but Beverly Hills attorney Ronald Richards was able to win Jon's freedom after claiming that a detention hold on his client by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was improper.

According to a press release dated April 2 on Richards' Web site, the attorney had retained the law offices of Jaehoh Suh to represent Jon in connection with the immigration detainer.

"Mr. Suh successfully convinced the government to terminate all immigration proceedings and Mr. Jon was released from custody at approximately 8:30 p.m. today," the news release said.

In a motion filed Mar. 23 with the Beverly Hills Superior Court, Richards is seeking to have seven counts against Jon dismissed on the grounds "that their filings were intentionally delayed, violating the defendant's due process rights where a pre-filing delay of 3 years caused irreversible prejudice."

Jon had been arrested Mar. 6 by the Beverly Hills police. In his motion, Richards noted that Avery G. came forward on Mar. 16, two days after Jon's arrest was in the news, and filed a complaint, claiming that she had been raped and assaulted by the Indian fashion designer in July of 2004.

"Even though she was allegedly raped, she went to a modeling meeting the next morning after the assault and hung out in Los Angeles all day," Richards pointed out. "She then spent another night in Los Angeles at the defendant's apartment, then left the new morning."

Jon has no phone records or notes of his relationship with Avery G., Richards pointed out in his motion. "Those records were destroyed," he wrote.

Consequently, "by allowing the charges to be joined with the recent charges, he is seriously prejudiced by facing higher bail, increased sentence exposure, and a myriad of other legal prejudices simply due to this inexplicable delay in bringing the charges" against him, said Richards.

In an earlier motion filed with the court Mar. 16, Richards also sought to have another charge dismissed on the same grounds, arguing that "Natalie P. contended that on October 19, 2004, she was raped by the defendant."

As he stated, "the first time Natalie ever made a complaint to law enforcement was on May 4, 2005, some six months after the alleged October 19, 2004 incident." He then pointed out that on June 30, 2005, deputy district attorney Kevin Halligan interviewed Natalie P. and "the DA's office declined to prosecute due to lack of insufficient evidence."

Again, his client has no records of his relationship with Natalie P., the attorney asserted. In both motions, Richards contended that "these facts require a dismissal (of the charges) with prejudice or at the very least, a severance."

Although he was to be arraigned when he appeared in Beverly Hills Superior Court Mar. 19, Jon was charged with another 15 felony counts as well as five more misdemeanor charges which were added to the seven original sexual assault charges he already faced following his arrest on Mar. 6 by the Beverly Hills police.

Jon was originally charged with seven counts of rape and sexual assault between October 2004 and Mar. 5, 2007, and was arrested at his Beverly Hills condominium less than 24 hours after a woman filed charges of rape against him with the Beverly Hills police. Two more women later came forward and filed similar charges, the youngest being a 15-year-old girl.

Since his arrest, four more alleged victims, including a 17-year-old, came forward with more allegations, and additional charges were filed against Jon.

According to media reports, Jon's mother Shashi thanked those "who stood behind the fashion designer during the difficult hour." She was also said to be "bitter" that some news media vilified the designer "with all kinds of allegations."