Silicon Valley CEO Called Employees the N-Word and Hit Three Women, New Lawsuit Claims

A Daily Beast Exclusive

Gurbaksh Chahal pleaded guilty to domestic assault, but remained in charge of companies where former co-workers say he ruled through fear and racial slurs.

By Kelly Weill

The way Gurbaksh Chahal tells it, he’s living the American dream. Once a poor immigrant living in San Jose’s projects, Chahal struck it rich when he sold his first company for tens of millions of dollars as a teenager and moved into a San Francisco penthouse. His inspirational story was even the subject of a 2008 appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show.

But as Chahal’s accolades piled up, so did the allegations against him.

In 2013, he was filmed hitting and kicking his girlfriend 117 times, and later charged in the alleged beating of another girlfriend. In both instances, he remained at the head of tech companies where, according to a lawsuit reported for the first time by The Daily Beast, he routinely called people “n---rs” and fired an employee who allegedly tried to stop him from hitting a third woman. Two other open lawsuits, between them, accuse him of misleading investors, hiring women based on their looks, and making a death threat against an employee.

That hasn’t stopped him from attempting to raise $100 million with a new a bitcoin-like cryptocurrency that he launched earlier this month with the endorsement of Paris Hilton. 

“He’s the biggest liar I’ve met in my life, I’ll tell you that much,” one former employee told The Daily Beast.

Neither Chahal nor his companies nor the lawyer representing him in two civil cases returned The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.

Click here for the full article.