Washington, Sep 14
A hearing for ad tech mogul
Gurbaksh "G" Chahal on charges of domestic violence has been moved to
November 13 amid reports that he paid a politician $1 million to make
the charges “go awayâ€.
Chahal was to appear before a San
Francisco court Sep 11 for a hearing on charges of hitting and kicking a
woman whom he met while on trial for 45 felony counts of similar
behaviour directed at another woman, SFist reported.
No reason
for the move was immediately given, but the postponement came after the
Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Chahal paid former
California assembly speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown $1
million to get video evidence deemed inadmissible.
According to a
police report cited by SFist regarding the incident at the root of the
postponed hearing, Chahal met his alleged victim - during his trial - at
the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
There, the woman with whom he
would go on to have a relationship was a VIP services supervisor.
Chahal, she says, did not disclose the ongoing trial.
Brown
denied in a radio interview Friday that he said he could make the
charges against RadiumOne CEO Chahal go away, and said what he did do
was ethical, Business Insider reported.
Chahal originally faced 45 felony counts for allegedly beating his girlfriend more than 100 times in one night in August 2013.
Chahal pleaded guilty in April 2014 to two misdemeanour charges and is serving three years of probation.
The
Journal citing documents obtained by it reported Wednesday, Chahal
offered in Dec 2013 to pay Brown, a lawyer, for his help dismissing the
charges.
Chahal reportedly said in an email to a RadiumOne board
member that he met with Brown and wrote that Brown "wants $1 million if
he can make this go away."
Chahal also reportedly paid Brown a
$250,000 retainer, though some of that money was later returned after
the judge ruled that a video of the alleged incident was inadmissible.
In
Friday's radio interview with San Francisco Chronicle, Brown said that
"One would be out to lunch if they said they could make anything 'go
away' period."
Chahal asked Brown to put together a legal team,
according to Brown and he did just that under "the canons of ethics." It
was more than just an IPO that was at stake - the charges meant that
Chahal could be facing the rest of his life in jail, Brown said.
"We followed all of the rules and regulations and saved him," Brown said.
The
Journal reported Wednesday that documents reviewed by it show the
lengths to which RadiumOne board members and lawyers strategised on how
to minimise the impact of the case on a planned IPO filing, which never
materialised.
Venture capitalist and one-time California state
controller Steve Westly, who joined RadiumOne's board in Nov 2013,
suggested in a Dec 3, 2013, email to Chahal that Brown "believes that he
can help you."
Westly, who is considering a second run for
governor, wrote that Brown knows the district attorney and "may be able
to 'back him off,'" adding that Brown is a "very good deal broker."
The Journal said RadiumOne, and Brown declined to comment. Westly also declined to comment through a spokesperson.
