A political consultant who posted a topless photo of his former love interest on Twitter has failed to follow through on bogus libel accusations. This summer, Shaian Mohammadi sued Metro Silicon Valley (San Jose Inside’s parent newspaper) and reporter Jennifer Wadsworth for defamation, claiming a Fly column about the revenge porn incident sullied his reputation and led to him being placed on academic probation at law school. Codefendants named in the lawsuit included San Jose Councilman Don Rocha, as well as his former policy aide, Ann Grabowski, who accused Mohammadi of harassment but was not involved in the revenge porn. Rocha went on the record in Fly’s story to defend his former staffer, while Mohammadi’s ex provided Fly screenshots of vulgar language and an admission that he’d posted a topless photo of her. Mohammadi himself copped to posting the topless photo, but tried to pass it off as an accident. The 14-page complaint, filed July 3 in Santa Clara County court, claimed the revenge porn revelation was false and cost Mohammadi friends, clients and job leads. He hired an attorney—John Mlnarik, who had just lost a defamation case against Santa Clara blogger Robert Haugh—but never bothered to serve anyone with the lawsuit. Once the 90-day deadline passed this month, a judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning Mohammadi can’t re-file the claim. It’s possible Mohammadi remembered that Fly has transcripts of Facebook chats, cellphone texts and emails that document some of his meltdowns. Or, maybe he never planned to follow through with the case in the first place, as it’s common for people with controlling tendencies to use the courts as an extension of their harassment. It’s also possible that Mohammadi sued to stifle a free press—a troubling trend that has gained steam as inconvenient facts are increasingly labeled fake news—or to intimidate Grabowski and his former beau, a respected activist and political operative who requested anonymity. In his lawsuit, which was picked up by the Mercury News and Courthouse News Service, Mohammadi called the bad press the root of his problems. In reality, his problems started around the time he tried to publicly shame a woman, if not well before then.
Some of the threatening messages Shaian Mohammadi sent to a woman he briefly dated years ago. San Jose Inside redacted the names of their mutual acquaintances. (Source: Facebook)
> It’s also possible that Mohammadi sued to stifle a free press—a troubling trend that has gained steam as inconvenient facts are increasingly labeled fake news . . .
Jennifer:
You should know better. The first amendment PROTECTS fake news.
Sometimes the media DOES publish fake news: “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”
I talked to Shaian. He ran out of money. John isn’t a cheap lawyer.
BTW the tone of this article shows some bias. You mention John’s loss against Haugh, but don’t mention his win in other libel/slander lawsuits against one of your own guest bloggers.
You really are taking Shaian’s word over Ann Grabowski’s….cmon man, as a Guardian Angel you are supposed to protect victims from harassers like Shaian…those texts tell a lot about the man as well as in person interactions others have voiced on this forum. Be careful of the company you keep Robert
I know Ann well enough. I once made a comment here about someone from DAWN. It was very vague, and it wasn’t about her. She took it as though it was. I don’t like people talking me down over my comments, especially when it isn’t them I’m talking about. I basically told Ann to piss off.
She overreacted like what I said was the most horrible thing ever said to her. (For the record, I told her maybe if she ate her makeup she could be pretty on the inside too.. Sort of my go-to line for pissing off girls) At the urging of another DAWN member (one who’s sex exploits have been tabloided here) urged me to to apologize, which I tried to but Ann firmly said “I will not forgive you”
So excuse me if I find her to be a bit full of herself, a bit of a megalomaniac. Certainly this comment is about her.
As far as the company I keep, I keep every person this rag has ever crapped on as friends. It’s amazing, every time they cyberbully someone here, I reach out, and what do you know? A new friend! I need to come up with a snazzy name, like Super League or Extraordinary Friends or SJI Watch.
I can’t believe you are defending Shaian and attacking Ann.
1. Shaian posted revenge porn of his ex, which he did not deny in previous SJI reporting and which is corroborated by SJI’s shared texts. How would you feel if someone did that to your daughter? I think this one fact alone shows that Shaian either has vile character or is emotionally unhinged.
2. Shaian defended his character by referencing his support for Hillary Clinton. That is a ridiculous claim, coming from someone who supported Clinton. I’m not going to question Shaian’s motives for his activism — I think some people in politics do it out of their own values, others do it out of ambition, and others do it to seek validation. The fact that he engages in sexist harassment while claiming to be an ally to women is pure hypocrisy, however.
3. Shaian also defended his character by trying to assassinate the character of Grabowski and Don Rocha, something that didn’t really make sense given that there was clear evidence of his revenge porning and unhinged behavior. However, the way he went about this just revealed even more about his character. Shaian decided to disseminate extremely private chat logs between himself and Ann, under the pretense that this would somehow prove ???. Shaian spread these around in a pretty transparent attempt to shame Ann, although he really nailed himself in the process because his flirty texts were… something.
Anyway, it’s no mistake that Shaian became your friend when you reached out. He probably doesn’t have a lot right now. But when you call SJI a “cyberbully” for reporting on Shaian’s predatory behavior, you’re not being a critical reader of media.
Oh I’m an absolute critical reader, and there’s things I know about the situation that SJI will conveniently not allow me to comment about here. Or maybe they will, who knows? Unlike you however, I never just look at everything the news presents as the whole story.
One of the things that comes up in the text between Shaian and his ex is her use of methamphetamine. That’s really all I needed to know about his ex. I’m sure she caused him tons of grief. She’s also an idiot for giving him nudes. I’ve been with my wife 20 years, I’ve never ONCE sent her a nude. I would never send anyone a pic of my dick because apparently I have more sense than a meth addict. Moving on.
As far as him/Anne, as stated above, I’ve had my own dealings with her. I don’t think she’s so great. You seem to think the world of her, and that’s fine. People are going to disagree. The picture I have in my mind is Shaian is terrible at picking a mate, and is a serial dater of women that he’s incompatible with. I have many many many non-political friends that do the same thing.
People say all kinds of stupid stuff in breakups. It’s normal. Do I publicize the stupid stuff I’ve seen my friends do? Not at all. In the grand scheme of things, Shaian is such a low level elected official that nobody cares, unless you’re in the political scene, or a friend of someone in the scene.
Oh and if you’re wondering what speed I’m talking about, I have an imgur album here. From my talks with Shaian she had a very bad drug habit that he didn’t find out about until well into their relationship. He tried to make it work, but I’ve learned you can’t expect a meth addict to straighten up no more than I can expect SJI to post my last 2 comments.
https://imgur.com/a/Er9Ur
Hmm, look at this. Looks like Shaian did a voluntary dismissal.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DMce0rJUMAAtT4K.jpg
Fake news at it best folks.
I confirmed with the court—twice. It was dismissed with prejudice, as we reported.
That might be the way the court did it’s final judgement, but can we agree that Shaian did a voluntary dismissal before the courts final judgement?
There’s no way I would have known that based on what was in the docket. It’s possible the court has yet to process his petition for voluntary dismissal, but all I know is that there was no record of it the two times I looked it up.
Either way Jen, some disclosure here.
I had Shaian over for dinner last night. I’ve known him quite a few years in passing. I have a saying, “the people that made me feel the best about myself as a kid would feed the hell out of me,” so when people are down, I try to do the same thing.
We ate:
3 cheese tortellini in a marinara sauce
Cheesy skillet fried potatoes with onions and cheddar.
Orzo, spinach, and Cherry Tomato salad.
He feels really down about this. Several times he mentioned “His life is over.” I’m not sure if that’s the point of these articles, or is it? What are you trying to accomplish?
I know Grabowski too, and like several friends in her clique, they are what I’d call “Predatory Daters” If a guy has some ounce of political clout in this county, it’s like an aphrodisiac to them. If you know the clique as well as I do, then you know I’m giving you an ounce of truth here.
Sure, Shaian filing a libel suit is kind of crappy but, you fired the first shots, and basically dragged this out past the point where he could afford to present a case. I wouldn’t exactly call that a gloat worthy win.
I thought guardian angels were supposed to protect the victim and not the criminal…what a hypocrite!
Hypocrite about what? What criminal? Was he formally charged and prosecuted? The only victims I see here are Shaian and Ann. They let Jen talk them into turning their lovers quarrel into 3 or 4 articles. I wonder how much Metro was paid, and what Jen’s cut of it was.
I’ll happily go on record to give another “vote of no confidence” in this man as a public servant in any way. I briefly worked with him when I was helping to organize Occupy San Jose protest. Yes, judge me if you will. This was during the same time he was dating (and abusing) this former activist beau mentioned in the story. In my less than 2-3 hours of engagements with this man, I noticed his methods and mannerisms were embedded with controlling tendencies, and inadequate valuing of group process. When called out, he was highly aggressive in a phone call with me. I’m not surprised he’s an abuser, and willing to wield the power of law to shut down those who expose him.
> I noticed his methods and mannerisms were embedded with controlling tendencies, and inadequate valuing of group process.
I love it when my prejudices about Democrats are validated.
The person he harrassed, Ann Grabowski, is one of the good ones. I meet her when she was in the Housing Department, quality person, professional. Shame on you Shaian!
I completely believe the person he harassed! I used to know Shaian and he is not a great person at all, at least not to the women he used.
If the allegations are true, if Shaian Mohammadi did in fact post a topless photograph of an ex-girlfriend, then he qualifies as an immature scoundrel who deserves to have his reputation ruined. But what of the reputation of the unnamed female, who not only rushed into the sack with Mohammadi but trusted him with a revealing photograph of herself? Should she be considered a victim, free of culpability? I admit to being out of the dating loop, but has it suddenly become news that a regrettably significant percentage of males are scoundrels?
As far as I’m concerned, the female involved is guilty of having engaged in reckless behavior. First of all, while the evidence suggests she didn’t invest enough time or energy into assessing the man’s character before bedding him, it is beyond question that her decision, made at some point in their month-long fling, to provide him with a topless photo was so reckless as to raise questions about her personal judgment and emotional suitability. Her name should be included in every news report, lest some unfortunate offer her a job or a marriage proposal.
Shi-zin isn’t a political operative. He just did generic online social media and web for local folks who aren’t exactly tech savvy.
Given that he’s in law school, he should have just represented himself in this lawsuit to avoid blowing his money (or do it in small claims court).
It is a strange story overall to do because it does not tie to his public role and is a few years ago. Obviously men harassing women is a problem but Shi-zin ain’t harvey Weinstein