LONDON – Britain’s leading newspaper, The Telegraph, has made an unprecedented series of apologies and paid damages to Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti following allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
Zia Chishti filed a lawsuit against the Telegraph Media Group (the publisher of the Daily Telegraph and the Telegraph online) in the UK High Court regarding thirteen articles published by The Telegraph between November 2021 and February 2023. These articles republished allegations made by a former employee who accused Mr. Chishti of harassment and assault against Tatiana Spottiswoode.
Muhammad Ziaullah Khan Chishti, known as Mr Chishti, engaged in a lengthy legal battle with The Telegraph in London for over two years. This process involved examining and disclosing thousands of documents exchanged between Mr. Chishti and Ms. Tatiana Spottiswoode. Between November 2021 and February 2023, The Telegraph published articles featuring allegations made by Ms Spottiswoode before a committee of the United States Congress. In response, Mr. Chishti initiated libel proceedings against the publication.
The High Court hearings examined extensive personal communications between Mr Chishti and Ms Spottiswoode, along with hundreds of documents that The Telegraph had obtained through a subpoena of Ms Spottiswoode’s attorneys in the United States. These communications included text messages in which Ms Spottiswoode expressed a desire to be “seduced and slowly undressed” by Mr Chishti during the time she claimed she was being harassed. The documents revealed intimate conversations indicating that Ms Spottiswoode had persistently pursued Mr Chishti with romantic interest during the periods when she alleged harassment and assault. Notably, she made her allegations public only after Mr Chishti had moved on to another relationship and married his current wife.
The U.K.’s oldest newspaper has now admitted that the allegations it published were false, misleading, and defamatory. In its apology, The Telegraph withdraws its previous claims that the allegations against Mr. Chishti were true. This apology will appear at the top of a record thirteen separate articles about him and will also be published separately in both the print and online editions. Additionally, The Telegraph has agreed to pay Mr Chishti substantial damages and legal costs.
The Telegraph acknowledged that Mr. Chishti has consistently disputed the allegations made by Ms. Tatiana Spottiswoode to Congress, which provided her with legal immunity against defamation claims. Furthermore, The Telegraph recognized that, although Mr. Chishti attempted to present evidence to Congress to disprove the allegations against him, he was not allowed to do so.
In an open court session at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, The Telegraph stated: “A series of articles published by The Telegraph from November 2021 to February 2023 reported on allegations made by former Afiniti employee Tatiana Spottiswoode to the United States Congress regarding the company’s founder and CEO, Zia Chishti. Although Mr. Chishti sought to refute these allegations, Congress did not allow him to do so, despite his strong objections.”
The Telegraph apology continued: “The Telegraph made a statement in open court that it withdraws its earlier position that the above allegations were true and made in the public interest. The Telegraph apologises to Mr Chishti and his family for the harm they have been caused. Finally, The Telegraph has agreed to pay Mr Chishti a substantial sum through damages and a contribution to his legal costs.”
Speaking to the media outside the court after winning his case, Zia Chishti stated that the apology and settlement from The Telegraph is a step in the right direction. The technology entrepreneur, accompanied by family members and lawyers, said, “I did not commit the horrific acts that 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 claim that the allegations it published were true and has apologized for the harm caused by these claims. This apology helps to repair the extensive damage done to me in the United Kingdom. I am now hopeful that in the United States, the newly elected Congress will give me the same platform to deny the allegations against me that it gave my accuser.”
Mr Chishti’s counsel in his U.S. defamation case against Ms Spottiswoode and her attorneys, Ms Nancy Smith and Mr Michael Zweig is Ben Chew, who also represented Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in his high-profile trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Ben Chew remarked, “The Telegraph, one of the United Kingdom’s leading newspapers, has abandoned its defence of the truth regarding the Spottiswoode allegations and has now apologized to Mr Chishti in open court. After his decisive victory in a similar defamation case in Pakistan, where he won a record judgment, this further vindicates Mr. Chishti.”
In the U.K., Mr Chishti is represented against The Telegraph by solicitor Jayne Clemens of Michelmores, with barristers Adrienne Page KC and Jacob Dean KC from 5RB. Ms Clemens commented, “After two years of litigation involving 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.”
The scope and distribution of The Telegraph’s apology is unprecedented in the British press, highlighting the severity of its mistake. The Telegraph has also agreed that the published apology will remain available indefinitely on its website without a paywall. Additionally, the apology will be displayed at the top of each of the thirteen articles it published about Zia Chishti and Tatiana Spottiswoode. The apology states that the allegations can no longer be supported as accurate or in the public interest.
Legal experts indicate that The Telegraph faced potentially substantial damages in court for its severe defamations against Mr Chishti. The Telegraph faced a setback in June 2023 when Justice Susan Collins Rice ruled that the paper’s allegations contained factual imputation and were defamatory towards Mr Chishti. Justice Rice rejected The Telegraph’s argument that it was merely reporting what Ms Spottiswoode alleged without further comment, concluding that its reporting was unbalanced and created a distinct impression of “where there is smoke, there is fire.” Justice Rice categorized The Telegraph’s allegations as “Chase Level 1,” representing the most extreme possible defamation. After almost a year of fighting, The Telegraph finally agreed to settle just weeks before the trial.
In the United States, Chishti has also filed a defamation lawsuit against Spottiswoode and her attorneys, Nancy Smith and Michael Zweig. In his U.S. complaint, Chishti included extensive text and email conversations with Spottiswoode, demonstrating that she had lied to the United States Congress and that the two had a consensual romantic relationship spanning many years. A central part of Spottiswoode’s defence is her claim of legal immunity regarding her allegations against Chishti to Congress, which protects her from his defamation lawsuit.
Zia Chishti is the founder of Invisalign, which led to a public listing on NASDAQ in 2001, The Resource Group, which he guided to a public listing on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in 2003, and Afiniti Limited.
