’s founder, Chairman and CEO Gurbaksh “G” Chahal, appears to be the perfect tech entrepreneur.
His first startup sold for $40 million to ValueClick. His next startup, BlueLithium, was acquired by Yahoo for $300 million in cash. Oprah once gushed that the good-looking entrepreneur was single. Now, his ad-tech company is reportedly planning to raise $100 million in an initial public offering.
But there have been much less-flattering reports about him. Previously, we wrote about his mixed reputation in the technology industry. Sources our Henry Blodget spoke with described him as "a fraud," "a freak show," and "a great marketer!"
But that's nothing compared to what's happening now. On Aug. 5, 2013, security footage allegedly surfaced of Chahal "hitting and assaulting" his girlfriend, Juliet Kakish. The Examiner's Mike Aldax says Chahal attacked her "117 times over a half-hour period" in his San Francisco home.
The complaint against Chahal filed last August, obtained by Business Insider, listed 45 felony counts and two misdemeanors that accused Chahal of the following actions:
- Hitting Kakish repeatedly in the head
- Assaulting her with a pillow
- Dragging her from the bed to the floor
- Covering her mouth with his hand to obstruct her breathing
- Hitting her in the lower body approximately 15 times
- Hitting her in the head while holding his other hand over her mouth
- Threatening to kill her
- Confining her to a bed by force and fear
Chahal was arrested but was able to post the $1 million bail. He also hired an attorney.
For most people, video footage of this sort of alleged attack could mean serious jail time and possibly even the end of their careers. Instead, Chahal has managed to avoid jail altogether.
Last week, Chahal pleaded guilty to just the two misdemeanors, and he won’t have to do any jail time. Valleywag's Nitasha Tiku reports his sentence: He'll be put on probation for the next three years. He's also agreed to do many hours of community service and to enroll in a domestic violence program for roughly one year.
SF Gate says the judge threw out the surveillance footage of Chahal because it was "seized unlawfully by police" and that Kakish declined to press charges.
Chahal will walk away without a felony conviction, and he will be able to stay on RadiumOne's board if he chooses. Chahal is still listed as chairman and CEO of RadiumOne on the company's website.
RadiumOne has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Chahal continues to tweet inspiring things, like your perfect tech CEO would do:
http://t.co/Kh8FCwFbNW pic.twitter.com/or5ELdgdvk
— Gurbaksh Chahal (@gchahal) April 23, 2014
Here's the court document on the initial charges against Chahal, which was filed last August:
