Huffington Post – by Shadee Ashtari
RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence and battery charges last week, dodging 45 felony counts for the videotaped 30-minute beating of his girlfriend.
Chahal, 31, faces no jail time. He was sentenced to three years’ probation, 52 weeks in a domestic violence training program and 25 hours of community service. The Internet mogul was arrested in August after police responded to a 911 domestic violence call at his San Francisco penthouse apartment.
His girlfriend told arriving officers that she was unable to breathe and that Chahal had told her four times, “I’m going to kill you,” San Francisco Officer Anh Nguyen told the San Francisco Business Times in March. “She stated she was in fear for her life.”
Home security footage reportedly showed Chahal beating and kicking his girlfriend 117 times during the 30-minute attack. Prosecutors said Chahal lashed out at his girlfriend upon learning that she had cheated on him with another man during a trip to Las Vegas, according to court documents.
Soon after Chahal posted his $1 million bail and hired former federal prosecutor James Lassart as his attorney, his girlfriend stopped cooperating with the investigation and refused to testify against him. During a preliminary hearing, Lassart, who is also defending embattled state Sen. Leland Yee (D-Calif.) on corruption charges, did not deny that Chahal repeatedly struck his girlfriend, but insisted the physical damage was overblown.
In a crippling blow to the prosecution, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy ruled that the surveillance video could not be used as evidence because police seized it illegally from Chahal’s apartment. The prosecution argued it likely would have been erased if police had waited for a warrant.
Alex Bastian, spokesman with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, issued astatement after the guilty plea on Thursday.
“We disagree with the judge’s suppression of the video. The judge’s ruling substantially weakened the evidence we had for prosecution,” Bastian said. “Though it is not the outcome we had hoped for, the case has reached a resolution where the defendant acknowledges guilt, is placed on domestic violence probation and has to take domestic violence classes.”
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The deal also means that Chahal — with no felony conviction — will be allowed to stay on the board of his $100 million-a-year social advertising technology company, RadiumOne, which has been preparing to go public.”
Chahal, once named one of America’s “most eligible bachelors” by ExtraTV, managed to advance his online-advertising network into its final stages for an initial public stock offering despite his arrest. He also secured a new partnership with publisher Condé Nast in April.
Condé Nast has since said that they “do not condone abusive behavior and the UK company is reviewing its association” with RadiumOne, according to a statement to HuffPost on Friday.
“Our Britain division has a vendor relationship for sales software with the company, as do many other UK-based media companies,” Patricia Rockenwagner, Condé Nast senior vice president of corporate branding and communications, added on Friday. “RadiumOne is a 3rd-party software vendor for our UK operation only.”
Chahal sold his first online-ad network, ClickAgents.com Inc., to ValueClick Inc. at the age of 16 for $20.5 million in stock. Seven years later, he sold BlueLithium Inc., which he also founded, to Yahoo for $300 million in cash.
In 2009, he authored a book about himself called The Dream: How I Learned the Risks and Rewards of Entrepreneurship and Made Millions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/23/gurbaksh-chahal-domestic-violence_n_5201334.html
More on the story:
RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal Fired Following Domestic Violence Conviction
Huffington Post – by Alana Horowitz
The embattled CEO of RadiumOne has been fired in the wake of a horrific domestic violence incident, Kara Swisher of Re/code reported.
The company’s board of directors fired Gurbaksh Chahal on Saturday night, Swisher.The company confirmed the news in an email statement on Sunday, TechCrunch reported. According to Swisher, Chahal did not offer to step down.
The company said that Chief Operating Officer Bill Lonergan will be taking over as CEO.
Chahal pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence and battery charges last week and paid a $500 fine. He ducked 45 felony charges and jail time.
Chahal defended himself in a blog post on Sunday. In it, he denied the severity of the abuse but admitted that he “lost [his] temper.” He lashed out at allegations that he beat his girlfriend 117 times, despite the fact that there’s a video of the incident. He called the video “bullshit” and accused the media of spreading misinformation.
Chahal also accused his girlfriend of “having unprotected sex for money with other people” and explained that when he confronted her about the discovery, they had a “normal” argument. He claims he only attacked her after she called 911.
As a result of the crimes, TechCrunch is dropping the online ad network as a sponsor of an upcoming tech conference.
TechCrunch is owned by AOL, which also owns The Huffington Post.
The obvious question is “why didn’t she leave him after he beat her 116 times”? (or maybe even after the first time?)
Women around the world will hate me for saying this, but any psychiatrist will agree with me; Battered women often provoke abuse. A woman with a history of being abused has learned to find comfort in it, and will actually provoke the abuse in times of stress in order to be returned to her “comfort zone” where she gets some sense of security from a few good swats. I’m sure many men will agree that many times an angry woman will settle for nothing less than a physical fight.
On a personal note, that’s why my EX-girlfriend isn’t allowed back in here. She has a history of being abused by her first husband, and tortures me psychologically in an attempt to get more of the same. Once when she was frustrated by my refusal to hit her, she threatened to call the cops and say that I hit her anyway. Bye-bye baby. I don’t need that crap in my life. I also knew another woman who would whack herself in the face with a frying pan in order to produce evidence of the “abuse” she was suffering.
I’m not trying to trash battered women here, but they have their own problems, and a lot of men are suckered into being their “knight in shining armor” that saves them from the abuse with a sane relationship. Don’t do it. She will never allow the relationship to be sane.
Now — I”m not defending the wife beater. He’s an obvious psychopath if he can’t find non-violent solutions to their problems, but it often takes two to tango, and this is a couple that should have went their separate ways long ago.
“The obvious question is “why didn’t she leave him after he beat her 116 times”? (or maybe even after the first time?)”
It wasn’t 117 separate beatings. He hit and kicked her 117 times in one, 30 minute, beating.
“Home security footage reportedly showed Chahal beating and kicking his girlfriend 117 times during the 30-minute attack.”
Well in that case the nut belongs in jail, and the girl may have had nothing to do with instigating the violence whatsoever.
The headline should have read “hit her 117 times”, because a “beating” is usually considered an event rather than one strike.
(Sorry, Angel, but I’m not always able to watch videos because my connection is too slow during the daytime)
aha — text too.
I won’t go there, other than to say that a lot of guys would have beat her. (I would have thrown her out into the street)
I’m so confused about the justice system.
If someone accused of assault (with clear and damning evidence), can avoid prosecution by having the victim not press charges, what would the response be if he killed her? Non prosecution because the victim was unavailable to testify against him?
I know that’s being absurd, but what about victims coerced into not pressing charges, or those too scared, or refuse for other reasons?
But meanwhile, putting someone into a hospital receives a free pass from the State, “victimless” crimes like getting caught with a joint have put people behind bars for life.
So next time this paragon of society actually kills some woman, who is to blame, him, his last victim, or the prosecutors? Or maybe he’s just being groomed to become a Senator, where the free passes are handed out like a rite of passage.
“In a crippling blow to the prosecution, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy ruled that the surveillance video could not be used as evidence because police seized it illegally from Chahal’s apartment.”
Having millions comes in handy.