The lawsuit against newly-elected congressman Ro Khanna (CA17) begins mediation this Friday in San Francisco. Khanna, his former Campaign Manager, Brian Parvizshahi and their attorneys will meet with the plaintiff, former congressman Mike Honda and his attorney at the law office of the court-appointed mediator. The accusations against Khanna and Parvizshahi stem from Parvizshahi’s continued accessing of Honda’s campaign data after briefly interning in 2013 at a consulting firm hired by the Honda campaign. Evidence appears to show Parvizshahi received pop-up notices when the Honda campaign accessed their files on Dropbox. “Digital fingerprints” imply he viewed or downloaded the folders of email contacts and other proprietary campaign data. It also appears that both Parvizshahi and Khanna used their private email accounts to contact some of those listed in Honda’s files.
Records show Parvizshahi continued to access files until Honda’s campaign discovered the breach in May of 2016. Parvizshahi resigned from the campaign within hours of Honda filing his lawsuit.
Khanna’s attorneys previously sought to have the case delayed and dismissed. Federal judge, Edward Davila denied all of Khanna’s motions.
Khanna is being represented by the high-powered corporate law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati where Khanna previously worked as a patent lawyer. Attorneys and Partners of WSG&R have given $67,901 to Khanna’s campaigns. The wife of Khanna’s campaign-chair, Allison Spinner, is a partner at the law firm.
Paravizshahi is being represented by Chicago attorney, Renato Mariotti. It has been reported that Mariotti is a personal friend of Khanna.
Federal Election Commission records show that as of 10/27/2016 the Khanna campaign has paid WSG&R $10,000 in legal fees.