--- title: Gurbaksh Chahal Domestic Violence Case: Sentenced to 1 Year description: Tech mogul Gurbaksh Chahal was sentenced to one year in prison on Friday for violating his probation in a domestic violence case canonical: https://time.com/4451413/tech-mogul-gurbaksh-chahal-sentenced-prison/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-13T17:31:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:08.915Z og:title: Tech Mogul Who Allegedly Hit and Kicked His Girlfriend 117 Times Sentenced to One Year in Prison og:description: Gurbaksh Chahal appeared on 'Oprah' as an eligible bachelor before being sentenced in a domestic violence case og:url: https://time.com/4451413/tech-mogul-gurbaksh-chahal-sentenced-prison/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt480cc256acc4f134/6988a24ffb4eacaa2d88ebc9/gettyimages-82729907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Fox Fall Eco-Casino Party - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tech Mogul Who Allegedly Hit and Kicked His Girlfriend 117 Times Sentenced to One Year in Prison twitter:description: Gurbaksh Chahal appeared on 'Oprah' as an eligible bachelor before being sentenced in a domestic violence case twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt480cc256acc4f134/6988a24ffb4eacaa2d88ebc9/gettyimages-82729907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tech Mogul Who Allegedly Hit and Kicked His Girlfriend 117 Times Sentenced to One Year in Prison > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=f171b166-9624-4b29-b2c2-167cc6f03144&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1)  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 13, 2016 5:31 PM UTC  Gurbaksh Chahal attends the Fox Fall Eco-Casino party at The London West Hollywood hotel on September 8, 2008 in West Hollywood, California. Gurbaksh Chahal attends the Fox Fall Eco-Casino party at The London West Hollywood hotel on September 8, 2008 in West Hollywood, California. Charley Gallay—Getty Images for Fox  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 13, 2016 5:31 PM UTC Tech mogul Gurbaksh Chahal was sentenced to one year in prison Friday for violating his probation in a [domestic violence case](http://time.com/79220/what-the-radiumone-ceos-firing-means-for-silicon-valleys-gender-problems/). Police say that security camera footage from 2013 shows Chahal beating and kicking his then-girlfriend 117 times and that the entrepreneur violated his parole by hitting another woman this year. Chahal earned fame when he sold his tech startup, a digital advertising company called Gravity4 Inc., for $300 million to [Yahoo](http://time.com/money/4418912/verizon-yahoo-deal/) at the age of 25\. He [appeared on the _Oprah Winfrey Show_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhOU14E3UOE) a year later in a segment that promoted him as a successful and eligible bachelor. He started another company, RadiumOne, but was [removed as CEO](http://time.com/78572/radiumone-ceo-fired/) in 2014 when he was charged with assault. Prosecutors and police say the 30-minute security video, which was captured inside Chahal’s San Francisco penthouse in 2013, shows him beating and attempting to suffocate his then-girlfriend with a pillow. He was charged with 47 felonies after the attack. However, during his 2014 trial, the judge ruled the tape inadmissible after Chahal’s lawyers argued that police seized the footage illegally. The victim withdrew her statement, and Chahal pleaded guilty to the reduced charges of battery and domestic violence battery. He was sentenced to probation. This year, prosecutors argued that Chahal, now 34, violated his probation by allegedly beating another girlfriend and threatening to report her to immigration services. (This second girlfriend also would not cooperate with police.) San Francisco Superior Court Judge Tracie Brown ruled earlier this month that Chahal had indeed violated his probation after she admitted the 2013 tape into evidence. She viewed it privately and did not play it in court. On Friday she handed down a one-year sentence, [according to](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article%5F2016-08-12-US--Silicon%20Valley%20CEO-Domestic%20Violence/id-29efabd19ef947f9a7215fb24a6bab65) the Associated Press. Chahal’s attorneys told reporters that they plan to appeal. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4451413/tech-mogul-gurbaksh-chahal-sentenced-prison/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4451413/tech-mogul-gurbaksh-chahal-sentenced-prison/"},"headline":"Tech Mogul Who Allegedly Hit and Kicked His Girlfriend 117 Times Sentenced to One Year in Prison","datePublished":"2016-08-13T17:31:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:08.915Z","description":"Gurbaksh Chahal appeared on Oprah as an eligible bachelor before being sentenced in a domestic violence case","url":"https://time.com/4451413/tech-mogul-gurbaksh-chahal-sentenced-prison/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt480cc256acc4f134/6988a24ffb4eacaa2d88ebc9/gettyimages-82729907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt480cc256acc4f134/6988a24ffb4eacaa2d88ebc9/gettyimages-82729907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fox Fall Eco-Casino Party - Arrivals","caption":"Fox Fall Eco-Casino Party - Arrivals","creditText":"Charley Gallay—Getty Images for Fox","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4451413/tech-mogul-gurbaksh-chahal-sentenced-prison/","name":"Tech Mogul Who Allegedly Hit and Kicked His Girlfriend 117 Times Sentenced to One Year in Prison"}}]}] ```