Chahal ousted from the company.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: The board of directors at RadiumOne has voted to oust chairman and CEO Gurbaksh Chahal from his positions at the company he founded in 2009.
The decision to distance RadiumOne from Chahal comes amidst the latter’s criminal case regarding charges of violence and domestic abuse against his former girlfriend. Chahal was arrested last year, and was charged with several misdemeanor and felony counts, but those were reduced earlier this month as part of a plea deal, in which Chahal pled guilty to one charge of domestic violence battery and one charge of battery.
As a result, Chahal will serve three years of probation, attend a court-ordered 52-week domestic violence counseling course, serve 25 hours of community service, and pay a $500 fine. Chahal will not go to jail, and both the charges to which he pleaded guilty are misdemeanors, but RadiumOne has still felt it necessary to put the company’s reputation ahead of its founder.
In a press release put out this weekend, RadiumOne did not address Chahal’s ongoing legal issues as a reason for his departure, and focused on maintaining a positive outlook for the company’s future. RadiumOne COO Bill Lonergan will succeed Chahal as the company’s CEO, effective immediately.
Taking to his personal blog earlier today, Chahal voiced his frustration with RadiumOne’s board of directors for booting him out of the company he created. Chahal claims that the board of directors – specifically, Steve Westly, Robin Murray, David Silverman, Bill Lonergan, and Ajay Chopra – had been supportive of Chahal throughout the legal proceedings, but ultimately pulled a fast one on him and asked him to leave.
“On Wednesday [April 26], I received an email from Robin Murray […] with the following message. ‘Been thinking some more. Absolutely don’t do anything. Let the haters hate [and] move on. This will blow over very quickly and we focus on the [Initial Public Offering]. Don’t let them get to you. Don’t respond. I know it sucks but [I] think this is the right way [forward]. Stay strong amigo. I feel for you.’”
But just 48 hours later, according to Chahal, “In [a] special board meeting, [the board] asked for my resignation as Chairman & CEO, [and] when I declined to do, they fired me.”
The diatribe accused the company’s higher-ups of relying on hearsay and innuendo in coming to their decision, and urged the public to understand the facts of the case. Chahal also questioned the integrity of the board members, but gave no indication of whether or not he would actively fight his termination in court.
Just one day earlier, on Sunday, Chahal wrote about the case, and urged the public to turn to the facts instead of hating on him after reading what people were writing on blogs and Twitter.
“I fully understand the outrage of those who believe I got off ‘lightly’ as asserted by numerous postings on social media sites,” Chahal wrote. “But the $500 fine I agreed to pay […] is simply what those misdemeanors require, and in no way reflects the toll that this ordeal has exacted on me […] the humiliation and shame I feel is immeasurable. The dollar cost to my business and my reputation is incalculable.”
Chahal also said that he hit his former girlfriend out of frustration, not as a pattern of abuse, when he discovered that she was having unprotected sex for money, effectively calling her a prostitute. Chahal also said that his anger was triggered only after she called 911, not before, meaning that his striking her was not the reason for her calling the police.
Video footage of the incident, caught by a security camera in Chahal’s residence, was deemed inadmissible by the court, and was the main reason that serious felony charges were dismissed against the entrepreneur. That video has never been released to the public. Additionally, the victim herself did not fully cooperate with prosecutors, according to reports, leaving them little to work with.
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A picture of the victim uploaded only 6 days after the incident
http://m.imgur.com/a/Ce7yc