LONDON: Britain’s leading newspaper The Telegraph has issued an unprecedented series of apologies and paid damages to Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti for alleging that he had engaged in sexual misconduct.
Chishti had sued the Telegraph Media Group (publisher of the Daily Telegraph and the Telegraph online) at the UK High Court over thirteen articles published by The Telegraph between November 2021 to February 2023 that republished allegations made by a former employee that he had harassed and assaulted Tatiana Spottiswoode.
Chishti, whose full name is Muhammad Ziaullah Khan Chishti, fought a tough legal battle with the paper in London for over two years which involved the disclosure and review of thousands of documents between Chishti and Spottiswoode.
Between November 2021 and February 2023, The Telegraph published a series of articles that reported on allegations made by Spottiswoode to a committee of the United States Congress. Chishti initiated libel proceedings against The Telegraph in response.
The subsequent High Court proceedings drew on extensive personal communications between Chishti and Spottiswoode, as well as hundreds of documents The Telegraph obtained through a subpoena of Ms Spottiswoode’s attorneys in the United States.
The communications included text messages in which Spottiswoode appeared to be asking that she be “seduced” by Chishti during the period in which she claimed she was being harassed. The documents contained intimate conversations which purportedly showed that Spottiswoode repeatedly pursued Chishti with romantic interest during the periods in which she was claiming she was harassed and assaulted — and made her allegations public after Chishti had moved on to a different relationship and married his now-wife.
The UK’s oldest newspaper has now conceded the allegations it published were false, misleading and defamatory. The apology states that The Telegraph withdraws its position that its allegations against Chishti were true and will run the apology on top of a record thirteen separate articles that The Telegraph published about him.
It will also be published separately both in The Telegraph’s print and online editions. The Telegraph also agreed to pay Chishti substantial damages and legal costs.
The Telegraph acknowledged that Chishti has consistently disputed the allegations Spottiswoode made to the US Congress, which provided her with legal immunity against claims of defamation. The Telegraph also acknowledged that, although he sought to provide evidence to Congress to disprove the allegations made against him, Congress did not give Chishti the opportunity to do so.
The Telegraph today read out in open court in the Royal Courts of Justice in London that: “A series of articles published by The Telegraph from November 2021 to February 2023 reported on allegations made by a former employee of Afiniti, Tatiana Spottiswoode to the United States Congress, about the company’s founder and CEO, Zia Chishti. Although Chishti sought to do so, Congress did not give him the opportunity to refute the allegations, which he strongly disputes.”
“The Telegraph made a statement in open court that it withdraws its earlier position that the above allegations were true and that they were made in the public interest. The Telegraph apologises to Chishti and his family for the harm they have been caused. Finally, The Telegraph has agreed to pay Chishti a substantial sum by way of damages and a contribution to his legal costs,” it added.
Speaking to media outside the court after winning the case, Zia Chishti said The Telegraph apology and settlement is a step in the right direction.
The technology entrepreneur, accompanied by his family members and lawyers, said: “I did not commit the horrific acts Spottiswoode and The Telegraph alleged against me. These allegations have created a three-and-a-half-year ordeal that has critically hurt my family and severely damaged my reputation and business interests. The Telegraph has now withdrawn its position that the allegations it published were true and has apologised for the harm it has caused in publishing these allegations. This apology helps repair the extensive damage to me in the United Kingdom. I am now hopeful that in the United States the newly elected Congress gives me the same platform to deny the allegations against me as it gave my accuser to make the allegations.”
Renowned legal expert Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School commented: “Chishti’s settlement with The Telegraph further cements his position that the allegations against him are just that: allegations. I have advised Chishti and followed his case with interest.
“Last year, Chishti won the largest defamation award in Pakistani history after similarly challenging allegations related to Spottiswoode published by the Narratives Magazine. With The Telegraph now withdrawing its defence of truth, it is increasingly clear that many in politics, business and the press rushed to judge Chishti simply on the allegations levelled against him, without giving him any opportunity to establish his innocence,” he said.
He added, “The Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, for example, allowed his accuser a national stage to level her accusations without providing any opportunity to Mr Chishti for rebuttal. Such conduct is an unfortunate feature of the present climate in which the principles of justice on which all nations are governed by the rule of law — due process and a strong presumption of innocence — have taken a back seat to virtue-signalling and ‘always believe the alleged victim’ thinking. By bringing legal proceedings, Chishti has bravely cleared his name and has helped move society towards a better balance between the rights of the accuser and the accused.”
Chishti’s counsel in his US defamation case against Spottiswoode and her attorneys Nancy Smith and Michael Zweig is Ben Chew, who also represented Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in his landmark trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
Ben Chew stated, “The Telegraph, one of the newspapers of record in the United Kingdom, has abandoned its defense of truth as to the Spottiswoode allegations and has now apologized to Chishti in open court. Following his decisive victory in a similar defamation case in Pakistan, where he obtained a record judgment, this constitutes further vindication for Chishti.”
Chishti’s solicitor in the UK representing him against The Telegraph is Jayne Clemens of Michelmores, and his barristers were Adrienne Page KC and Jacob Dean KC of 5RB. Clemens commented: “Following two years of litigation incorporating extensive underlying evidence, Chishti has been vindicated by this apology for the harm caused to him and his family by the seriously defamatory allegations made against him.”
The scope and distribution of The Telegraph’s apology is unprecedented in the British press, signifying the severity of The Telegraph’s mistake. The Telegraph has also agreed that the published apology will remain available forever on the paper’s website without a paywall. The apology will also be available on top of each of the thirteen articles it published on Zia Chishti and Tatiana Spottiswoode. The apology declares that the allegations could no longer be supported as being true or being in the public interest.
Legal experts say that the Telegraph was facing potentially extraordinary damages in court for its severe defamations of Chishti. The Telegraph had earlier suffered a setback in June 2023 when the paper lost an initial trial when Justice Susan Collins Rice determined that the allegations made by the paper carried factual imputation and were plainly defamatory of Chishti.
Finding against The Telegraph’s argument that it was simply reporting what Spottiswoode alleged and no further, Justice Rice concluded that The Telegraph’s reporting was not balanced and that it created a distinct impression of “where there is smoke there is fire.” Justice Rice declared that The Telegraphs’ allegations were “Chase Level 1”, or the most extreme possible. The Telegraph continued to fight for nearly a year and finally agreed to settle a few weeks before trial.
Chishti has also sued Spottiswoode and her attorneys Nancy Smith and Michael Zweig for defamation in the United States. In his US complaint, Chishti also included extensive text and email conversations with Spottiswoode that purportedly show that Spottiswoode had lied to the United States Congress and that the two had a consensual romantic relationship spread over many years. A central part of Spottiswoode’s defence is that because her allegations against Chishti were made to the US Congress, she has legal immunity against Chishti’s defamation lawsuit.
Zia Chishti was the founder of Invisalign, which he led to a public listing on the NASDAQ in 2001; of The Resource Group, which he led to a public listing on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in 2003; and of Afiniti Limited.
At the time he resigned from his positions in The Resource Group and at Afiniti, he led a business group that employed thousands of people worldwide. The businesses continued to thrive for six or so months after Chishti departed. However, three years after he left, Afiniti entered into insolvency and The Resource Group stock price has plummeted to Rs60 from around Rs150.
