“Success is how high you bounce when you hit rock bottom” – Gurbaksh Singh Chahal posted on his recent blog.
On Aug 5, 2013, well-known, serial entrepreneur millionaire, Chahal was reported to have allegedly assaulted his girlfriend by hitting her 117 times within a period of less than a half an hour. Police were able to obtain video footage – after a 911 call was made – from the surveillance cameras set up across his penthouse apartment. It was the main source of evidence following which he was charged with a staggering 45 counts of felonies. Chahal has faced tremendous negative backlash ever since with people calling to boycott his current company, RadiumOne. It’s been a hot button topic for a number of weeks now as the story has gotten global attention both by media and the public.
Owing to the video surveillance having been illegally obtained (making it inadmissible in court as evidence) coupled with the alleged victim’s refusal to testify against him, Chahal did not face any jail time. In an interesting turn of events, despite a lack of chargeable evidence, two weeks ago, Chahal pleaded guilty to one count of battery and one count of domestic violence battery, with the remaining 43 charges dismissed. The verdict? A $500 fine, a three-year probation period, a 52-week domestic violence-training program, and 25 hours of community service.
After intense media backlash, RadiumOne’s Board of Directors asked for Chahal’s resignation which he refused. This decision came to him as an ugly shock, prompting a lash out against the board of directors on his blog in a post entitled “Can You Handle The Truth?”.
Chahal maintained his innocence in the post, claiming that he only decided to go with the plea bargain to not waste another year of his life going through trials, something that he says would ultimately have resulted in him being exonerated of all charges in any case, due to the case having no substance behind it. He went on to say that his board of directors happily supported the decision, as that would have meant progress for the company, even quoting an email from one of the directors that stated, “This will blow over very quickly and we focus on the IPO.”?? Under his leadership, RadiumOne was well on its way to raising $100 million in an upcoming IPO.
Chahal then took to blogging and tweets to explain his side of the story.
The intensity of the backlash spiked even further upward when Fortune magazine’s columnist, Dan Primack called for Chahal’s ouster, castigating the board for not taking action sooner. While that didn't go well with the board itself, Tech Crunch dropped RadiumOne as a sponsor of the popular Disrupt NY technology conference, and their senior editor, Leena Rao explained in an open letter why in their opinion, Chahal’s behaviour had become impossible to ignore.
On April 27, 2014, 11 days after he pleaded guilty, the board fired him as Chairman and CEO of the company he founded back in 2009.
“Whatever happened supporting your CEO during the tough times knowing the truth?” Chahal had questioned the board on his personal blog site reminding them of all the profit he has helped them attain in the past. The blog has since been removed from his site. ?
Bill Lonergan, RadiumOne’s new CEO has published a memo via Re/Code as a response to Chahal’s now deleted blog. In it, he said: “It became clear that Gurbaksh’s ability to lead the company had been severely compromised by the legal proceedings and ensuing developments.” Lonergan also stated that the email quoted by Chahal had been taken out of context and that it was only meant to dissuade him from speaking to the media any further, in an effort to avoid additional negative press. Chahal has been stripped of any executive authority and the company promises to move on with business seamlessly. RadiumOne claims that Chahal has no legal claim against it and hopes he will not proceed to attempt the same. ??
A company spokeswoman said Monday that neither they nor the company would add to their statement announcing Chahal’s replacement by former COO Bill Lonergan.
Has this story finally come to an end? Only time will tell.
Featured Image:i1.ytimg
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