LONDON: The Telegraph, Britain’s leading newspaper, has issued an apology to Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti for publishing allegations that he had engaged in sexual misconduct.
In its apology on Monday, the newspaper said a series of articles it published from November 2021 and 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. Mr Chishti strongly disputes these allegations. Although Mr Chishti sought to do so, Congress did not give him the opportunity to refute the allegations.
Mr Chishti issued libel proceedings against The Telegraph in 2022 in the High Court of England and Wales as to one of the articles. In an initial trial in June 2023 to determine meaning, Justice Susan Collins Rice determined that the allegations made by the paper carried factual imputation and were plainly defamatory of Mr Chishti. Finding against The Telegraph’s argument that it was simply reporting what Ms 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.”
The High Court determined that the article had alleged that “since being introduced to Ms Spottiswoode by her father when she was thirteen and Mr Chishti was an adult, Mr Chishti groomed Ms Spottiswoode with sexual intent. Mr Chishti further pursued her with inducements and threats, culminating in a brief sexual relationship when they were adults, which on his side was abusive and violent, and which she quickly terminated”. The High Court determined that these allegations were “Chase Level 1” allegations, or among the most serious allegations a newspaper could possibly make against an individual.
The Telegraph continued to litigate for over a year, during which period the Telegraph received hundreds of documents, including documents it subpoenaed from Ms. Spottiswoode’s attorneys. The documents included extensive communications between Mr. Chishti and Ms. Spottiswoode, including messages from Ms. Spottiswoode that indicated she was actively pursuing a romantic relationship with Mr. Chishti during the period in which she claimed she was being harassed, including asking Mr. Chishti to “seduce” her.
The Telegraph agreed to settle a few weeks before an upcoming trial scheduled for May 2025. Legal experts say that The Telegraph was facing potentially extraordinary damages in court for its severe defamations of Mr Chishti. On March 17, 2025, to settle the matter, The Telegraph made a statement in open court withdrawing its earlier position that its allegations against Mr. Chishti were true and that they were made in the public interest. The Telegraph apologized to Mr Chishti and his family for the harm it caused, and agreed to pay Mr Chishti a substantial sum by way of damages and a contribution to his legal costs.
Mrs Justice Susan Collins Rice, who also presided over the statement in open court, concluded the matter by stating “I note that the Statement in Open Court deals with matter very clearly, and without putting Mr Chishti to the delay, trouble and expense of litigation and the inevitable further ventilation of the matters complained that would entail. A clear line can now be considered drawn under this matter.”
The Telegraph thereafter posted its apology in front of each of the thirteen articles it wrote between 2021 and 2023 that were critical of Mr. Chishti. The Telegraph also made its apology available without a paywall on The Telegraph’s online edition, and agreed to publish the apology in the upcoming Sunday print edition of The Telegraph.
Speaking to media outside the court after winning the case, Mr Chishti, accompanied by his family members and lawyers, said: “I did not commit the horrific acts Ms 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.”
Mr 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. Ms Clemens commented: “Following two years of litigation incorporating extensive underlying evidence, Mr Chishti has been vindicated by this apology for the harm caused to him and his family by the seriously defamatory allegations made against him.”
Renowned legal expert Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School commented: “Mr Chishti’s settlement with The Telegraph further cements his position that the allegations against him are just that: allegations. I have advised Mr Chishti and followed his case with interest. Last year, Mr Chishti won the largest defamation award in Pakistani history after similarly challenging allegations related to Ms 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 Mr Chishti simply on the allegations levelled against him, without giving him any opportunity to establish his innocence.
"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, Mr Chishti has bravely cleared his name and has helped move society towards a better balance between the rights of the accuser and the accused.”
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 Mr Chishti departed. However, three years after he left, Afiniti entered into insolvency and The Resource Group stock price has plummeted to Rs 60 from around Rs 150. TRG stock price was up 10 per cent on Tuesday following the ruling.