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Indian-origin Pennsylvania landlord sued over alleged sexual harassment of woman tenant
Landlord Venkatachalam Mani allegedly made unwelcome sexual advances toward a female tenant, repeatedly showed up at her home uninvited
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Staff Reporter - Thu, 06, Aug 2026
- 02:16 EDT
- 40
Representational image / Pexels
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against an Indian-origin landlord in Pennsylvania for allegedly sexually harassing a woman tenant and engaging in a pattern of intimidation and retaliation when she rejected his advances.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 5, alleged that Venkatachalam Mani, who owned and managed a residential rental property on Waupelani Drive, leased his property to Jordan Miller, the mother of four minor children.
According to federal court documents, the abuse began in June 2022 when Mani asked Miller to help organize paperwork at his personal residence. Upon her arrival with her 11-year-old son, Mani, who was shirtless, directed her son to stay upstairs while leading Miller to his basement, where he showed her explicit sexual images and sexually assaulted her.
After the tenant rejected his advances, federal prosecutors allege that Mani repeatedly showed up at her home uninvited, made threatening statements regarding the safety of the residence, harassed her children and refused to perform essential property maintenance.
Despite repeated requests from Miller's family, Mani failed to provide heating oil or maintain the home's furnace, leaving the family without heat as temperatures dropped to zero degrees.
The furnace eventually caught fire, and the property was subsequently "red-tagged" as uninhabitable, forcing Miller and her four children to vacate immediately and move into a hotel with minimal belongings.
Miller obtained a Sexual Violence Protection Order against Mani and reported the assault to local police.
Following an administrative investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that found reasonable cause of discrimination, the federal complaint was submitted in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, systemic housing policy changes and monetary damages for Miller and her children.
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