by Anthony Reza Solhi
For two years or more, I have been the victim of an Internet-based effort intended to ruin my reputation and destroy my capacity to earn a living. One man, Gautam Malik (together with his wife, Nidhi Malik) has been the principle force behind this relentless attack. As much as I may sympathize with the circumstances that led to his anger (indeed, I share those circumstances), no personal tragedy he may have suffered can justify or excuse this behaviour.
Gautam Malik was one of many franchise owners who lost money when the franchise business I had founded (and for which I had served as president for more than a decade) collapsed under tragic circumstances. Many investors lost money. Several law-suits were filed amidst accusations of wrong-doing.
Such accusations are hardly unusual when companies collapse. None held up in court (in fact, they were tossed out during the preliminary hearing). Unfortunately, Gautam Malik continues to hold me personally responsible for his loss, falsely portraying my once successful and innovative pizza company as some sort of swindle. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Not only did Gautam Malik, together with a few other franchisees, take his accusations to a credulous press, he continues to publicize these misleading articles and press-reports to this day via the Internet. Gautam operates an entire Web site devoted to libeling my name — and worse: Attacking the reputations of my family who had nothing whatsoever to do with the collapse of my company. This site he runs features mug-shot-like photographs of my innocent family members.
Gautam Malik and his wife, Nadhi Malik, regularly post comments and links back to this Web site on every Web page they can find remotely related to franchising or the fast food industry. He is well and truly obsessed with me, as proven by a simple Google search of my name (or my brother’s name, or my uncle’s name, or my mother’s name, or my ex-wife’s name…).
It is time for this madness to stop.
Lessons Learned
In 2002 (or there-abouts), the first negative story about me appeared in the Toronto Star. My company had for some time been embroiled in a dispute with several franchises. Several of the disgruntled franchisees took their complaints to the press. I did not realize at the time just how damaging this story would prove. I figured that soon enough the accusations would blow over and the truth would win out.
What I failed to understand was the influence a massive media giant like the Toronto Star has upon the full institutional, national media. In the United States, what the New York Times reports is soon the lead story on the evening network news. In Canada, what the Toronto Star places on its front page sooner or later becomes the subject of a W5 Newsmagazine story.
The wave of negative publicity that was to follow in the wake of the first Toronto Star article, and in those thereafter, ultimately swamped my entire company. It became impossible to survive. As a young entrepreneur, and a relatively new immigrant to Canada, I lacked the experience to wage the kind of public relations campaign I now know was necessary to save my business.
The true story of Gautam Malik and his wife, Nidhi Malik is similar to that of many of the franchise partners I worked with at the time.
Many of the good people I did business with were brainwashed by the media to believe they had foolishly partnered with a dishonest businessman. These people had invested an enormous amount of money with me and entrusted me with a large share of their hopes for the future. They were very concerned about the security of that investment. When they suddenly read stories in the newspapers suggesting I was dishonest, they were understandably frightened.
What happened next among my investors was nothing less than a panic.
Anyone who has ever watched George Baily defend the New Bedford Building & Loan Association knows what happens when investors suddenly get it in their heads to demand their money back. Unfortunately, in real life, its doesn’t do much good explaining that the money given to the company has already been used to purchase assets and can’t be returned. Individual investors only want their own money returned. In my case, even when they knew that the money has been spent on the locations they had contracted for.
Gautam Malik & Nidhi Malik Threaten to Ruin Me
So when Gautam Malik and Nidhi Malik sat in my office that day, back in 2005, they weren’t interested in contractual obligations and franchise agreements. Not only were they not going to pay my company the remainder of the fees they owed (to honor the contract they negotiated and finalized with the company) they wanted their initial deposit returned as well.
I made them the best offer I could.
The Toronto Star had alleged that I had taken the money of investors and either not given those investors stores, or had delivered substandard, inadequate locations. I suggested to the Maliks that the outstanding funds not be given to me but that they be handed over to a mutually-acceptable legal entity to be held in trust. That money would not be transferred to the company until the store they purchased was completed and even then not unless it met with their complete satisfaction.
It was the best I could do to ease their fears.
What made the Gautam Malik and Nidhi Malik situation exceptional, however, was what happened next.
Sitting in my office, they told me in the most serious tone, that I would either refund their money or they would see to it that I was financially ruined. I remember their words to this day; “You better pay back our money or we will ruin your life and your business.”
You better pay back our money or we will ruin your life and your business.
Even if I wanted to submit to their threats of extortion, I could not have done so — because I did not have their money. Their money, plus my company’s money, had already been invested in the startup costs for the location they had selected (which, incidentally, was one of the best locations in all of Toronto).
Gautam Malik Makes Good on his Threat
By themselves, the Maliks did not destroy my business. As individuals, they didn’t have that kind of power. I didn’t appreciate the danger the company was in at the time and never formed an adequate survival strategy. That was my mistake.
Still, the Maliks did come after me, as they promised. The two of them are largely responsible for much of the personal damage my reputation has suffered. Today, they continue their misleading Internet-based campaign against me.
It is not enough for them that the company I loved and nurtured was destroyed and that I lost my fortune, my home, and my family; the Maliks are still unsatisfied. Four years after the Maliks came to see me that day, Gautam Malik and Nidhi Malik continue to pursue their personal vendetta against me. They will not stop until my reputation is completely destroyed.
They are convinced that I stole their money. Sadly, they have convinced thousands of others of this as well.
I remain a big believer that the truth will come out in the end but I now realize it can’t do so if I fail to defend myself. This was the mistake I made years ago — thinking that truth would somehow be its own advocate. I now realize that people can’t possibly believe the truth if they never hear it.
It is my hope that this article (and others soon to be available) will begin to show those who are interested what truly and really happened to my company, and who I truly am.
Tags: 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings, Anthony Reza Solhi, Anthony Solhi, Dishonest News Media, Gautam Malik, Nidhi Malik
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