Transcription
It has eviscerated my life in every way possible, and I almost jumped. What stopped you?
This is Cula KH, and he was accused of one of the worst crimes a man can commit and was days away from jail and deportation. But turns out, the accusation was false. This is the story of a former Ivy League student's 8-year battle to win a $110 million lawsuit against Yale in the false accuser. If he wins, it could change the lives of thousands who've been falsely accused. And as someone who's faced a false accusation myself, I know I'm not the only one. So I wanted to set my bias aside to try and find out: Could this change how false accusers are held accountable? Who profits from this false accusation industry? The school couldn't find me innocent. And how quickly can the public turn from loving you to hating you?
And in a topic that's often treated as guilty until proven innocent, I wanted to start by hearing from the man himself on what exactly happened and to find out, is he completely innocent?
"You're from Afghanistan, right?"
"So I'm from Afghanistan. I was born in a refugee camp on the border of Afghanistan, Pakistan. My family was escaping, uh, political turmoil, violence, and just civil war."
"Tell me about how you even came to America."
"Well, I bought a plane ticket. I guess Yale got me that ticket. Yale was my ticket, not just to the school itself, but to America and to the promising life in general. I was too poor to pay the 5%, 10%. So with Yale, they bought my ticket, in a sense. They, they, they paid for clothing, housing, tuition, food, which I'm incredibly grateful for."
"Uh, what's the night of the incident?"
"She and I were in that flirtation, flirtatious phase. She was sending me, she experienced sonnets and poems and like, you know, that's like the Yale whale of flirting."
"So you guys had like relations before?"
"There's that tens? No, no, we had, we had that romantic attention. Got it. Just interest in each other. And so we were celebrating the purchase of a new mansion. And so I hosted a party. And, uh, after the party, we ended up at the symphony orchestra show. Uh, uh, and it was just, you know, a nice Saturday night flame. And so she didn't want her friends to know that we had the day after. She wanted to keep it tight-lipped. And so we even texted, we talked in person about it, and she didn't want them to know."
"And what were they accusing you of specifically?"
"So they were accusing me of four counts of, uh, a struggle session. It went to a trial. And so Yale would interfere. And fall of 2017, we were actually even done with jury selection. Five minutes before the jury was sworn in, they came in with a big trash bag. The prosecutor's office, which is not Yale, so that was a key differentiator. The prosecutor was thankfully not part of the Yale control sphere. They found exculpatory evidence that Yale was trying to hide. Some of it contained material such as verbatim from Afghanistan, violence is accepted there, he must have done it. These were notes passed between the administrators and the police. For example, she said that I dragged her from the symphony orchestra to her bedroom, that, that she was falling over and stumbling, and all she remembers was just struggling hard against being, you know, dragged around campus, and that she was falling over again and again. And there's camera evidence. None of that happening. This just not true. It did not happen."
"You can see how a serious accusation can ruin someone's life because even when it's proven false, your reputation is still destroyed. And it can even turn those who you thought was the closest to you against you."
"My dad didn't talk to me for years. Uh, my mom would, you know, cry and she didn't know what was happening to her son in America. You know, what are they doing to my son? What's going on? And cuz she's illiterate, she doesn't know how to read. And so she's going plainly off of, you know, emotions. And so just being told that, oh, he's under a criminal investigation and he could be put in prison for decades. She went to sleep crying many, many, many nights."
"Walk me through how you were feeling as this all happened."
"I was just questioning everything. Like, what do you mean? What did I do? I was, you know, just taking it in. Cuz one moment I'm worrying about midterms and what to do for my senior thus to graduate. The next day, all that is out the window. And now I'm worrying about prison for life, 40 years. I'm worrying about deportation. Police are out looking for me. And I'm on the street with two suitcases. They gave me 30 minutes to pack up and leave. And so I, I could only take the essential stuff. So I actually just went to, uh, the Q Bridge that had been recently built in New Haven. And I almost jumped."
"What stopped you?"
"Um, a, a memory of my mom from when I was a kid. And the reason that memory was powerful was because I had that realization that this would be selfish."
"So as I'll get into, Saif was now faced with something serious. He had a potential criminal charge, a civil charge, and a threat of deportation back to Afghanistan, which at the time was one of the most dangerous countries in the world. And unlike famous people who may have the funds to fight back like Johnny Depp did, Saif was a refugee and an international college student. So he couldn't legally work in the US. But as you'll find later on, support can come when you make some noise. In fact, that's actually exactly how Saif and I met. He saw my video talking about my false accusation story. And what we both found is that since both of our stories have gone out in the public sphere, we have both received countless emails from thousands of men who have had similar stories. And for those watching who have fortunately never gone through a similar experience, I can tell you it's the worst thing ever. Because once you're accused, you're automatically guilty until proven innocent. And I'm not afraid to admit it now, but there were countless times during the process where when I was alone, I broke down crying because I felt like I had no hope and I felt like genuinely my life was over. But as I'll reveal later on, there's a reason why I genuinely say that this was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. But just how you might doubt me saying that, I also have doubts about Saif. So before we dive into how Saif kept fighting, I wanted to understand who he really is, whether he's truly innocent. Because like I said, look, I have my own bias in this story. So I need to look at all the facts. And the best resource that consistently helps me with that is my sponsor, Straight Arrow News. So Straight Arrow News is a free app that not only looks at the right or left opinions, but most importantly, gives me an unbiased view of stories from all sides. And I can't say how important that is for the topic that we're talking about today, accusations. Because like we're literally seeing right now with the whole Blake Lively versus Justin Baldoni accusations, people rushed to cancel Justin before all the facts came out. And so that's a perfect example of how I use Straight Arrow News for my research, as well as for my newsletter. So if you download their free Straight Arrow News app, not only are you supporting me, but a sponsor that I know that you guys will genuinely find valuable if you like my content and what I stand for. And it's free. So go to.com or my link in the description to download the the free app to stay fully informed. And now back to the video."
"So were you like a social guy?"
"I was incredibly social. Um, and and part of what connects to the, the larger story of why I'm here, uh, I was also just very, uh, promiscuous as well."
"Huge flirt?"
"Yeah. Yeah. It was fun. Yeah. Flirting is fun. You just get to know a person, you compliment, you have fun. It's just enjoyable."
"So what was like your reputation like? What were you kind of known like in campus?"
"I was friends with all sorts of, uh, uh, networks."
"So what were you involved in campus-wise?"
"I had started a group called Overheard at Yale. It, it was a gossip group to gather all the things people overheard."
"Did people know that you were an admin of this Facebook group?"
"I mean, it was in that instance, aren't you holding this, or were you blocking it?"
"I guess part of, uh, the live wire that I often tripped on was I was curious like, how does suppression of free speech work? And so I would actively promote and delete and remove or, you know, edit stuff on the Facebook post. And, and I would, I would essentially choose what was allowed to become popular there."
"Not hypocritical on your end if you're doing that?"
"It's a valid criticism. Uh, uh, uh, I wanted to know how it works because there are these manipulations that exist from mainstream media or, or even even sometimes government, or you see this with Twitter or elsewhere. And so, um, people then work around the system."
"So did you develop a reputation where you were politically incorrect on campus?"
"Yes, heavily so. And so it was a major, uh, problem because I couldn't be accused of being a neo-Nazi or a straight white male. I was at the bottom of the totem pole. I was born in a refugee camp. And so, um, when people talk about, it's like, really, is hate speech that is what hurt, hurtful. Um, so there was like a growing number of people who hated me and didn't like me at all. So I would often ask questions. I would see, there's a woman's center, why don't we have a men's center? I would get bombarded. I was like, whoa, I'm just literally asking the girl. She's Jane Doe for the moment. She's Jane Doe for us. And, and so anything that could identify her, I'm not at liberty."
"By senior year, when I had joined the Jewish secret society, um, and I hosted a party to celebrate the purchase of a new mansion. Um, and so that night, and this was for Halloween 2015, one of the girls that ended up at that party, and it was funny, I had a choice of going home with like three different girls. And so I ended up going home with one of them. Um, and her friends were heavily part of the, uh, Yale's Women's Center. And a lot of the people there, especially her friends, hated me."
"Based on my own experience, yes, it's absolutely true that friends can have a big influence on the accuser's actions and perceptions of what happened. But with all that said, his story still doesn't seem to add up. Because why exactly would she accuse him?"
"Part of the, uh, problem was that, uh, her feelings were hurt because she had expectations of a relationship. We never discussed that."
"I see. And this was still during your time of promis? So like for you, you were also, this was just fun, enjoying, uh, each other's?"
"I was aloof to the idea that she wanted something deeper."
"Do you feel like you could have set the expectation better?"
"I guess, yes. You know, in hindsight, thinking back through the events of, uh, what it was, especially given that, uh, she did not want her friends to know. Why, uh, I was a very divisive figure. I was embroiled in, you know, controversial opinions. I was politically incorrect. And her friends did not like you."
"They hated me."
"So maybe I'm just not getting it, but why would a group of friends go this far just to accuse someone just because they didn't like the guy?"
"But as I'll get into, context and timing is key to understand why people act in certain ways in certain situations. So how did it go from this to all that's happened today?"
"So there was a Title IX investigation, a criminal investigation, and an emergency suspension from the school and deportation proceedings because you were an international student?"
"Yes. Here I was an international student in the United States of America on an F1 student visa. I was only allowed to go to college here. And so what they did was they contacted their people at the Department of Homeland Security and at the specifically at ICE, uh, uh, saying like, look, this student's educational status has been terminated. Uh, and so the, the plan, their plan was to put me in a holding cell through the arrest warrant and have ICE come and deport me. Then I'm the Taliban's problem."
"The Yale Title IX policies that were, uh, enacted at that time period, they started October 26, 2015. And they were there because Yale was under investigation by the Obama administration for several years since the Dear Colleague letter in 2011. So it took a couple years for the Department of Education to investigate Yale. And they came up with a policy of what to do regarding crime on campus and how to be tough on it. And, uh, I was their first guinea pig."
"So to understand this case, I think it's just really important to understand the broader context of how universities approach sexual misconduct cases around this time. So remember, this incident occurred in October 2015. So it was a little bit before the Me Too movement that was popularized in 2017. But the real change came earlier in 2011 when the Obama administration's Dear Colleague letter took effect in response to the growing concerns around universities' inaction in how they were handling these sorts of cases. And what the letter mandated was for schools to update their policies and comply. And if they didn't, they were threatened with their federal funding. And for Yale, not only did they receive a lot of federal funding each year, they were also heavily investigated from how they handled previous cases. So under heavy scrutiny already, you can probably guess where this is going. So between 2012 and 2014, Yale made significant updates to their policies. They created university-wide committees, expanded resources for survivors, and most notably, changed their legal standard of proof. Instead of using the 'beyond a reasonable doubt' standard common in actual criminal trials, Yale adopted a different threshold called the preponderance of evidence. To put it simply, what this means is that unlike criminal courts where the accuser must meet a higher burden of proof, Yale can now expel an accused student on the belief that an accusation was probably true. So when the accusation against Saif was filed, it was perfect timing, or an unfortunate one, because Saif now became a guinea pig for these newer, stricter rules. So before we get into how Yale handled Saif, he first faced the criminal investigation where Jane Doe had the burden of proof to prove these accusations. And so how the hell did that go?"
"And so that's when the fight really got started. Even though a lot of people compared me to O.J. Simpson."
"O.J. Simpson?"
"Yeah."
"So at this point, me was probably all over this, yeah?"
"So, so that was one of the most jarring and annoying parts of, uh, this experience was the shame and ridicule and the, and the presentation in such a horrendous, false manner in the media."
"Why were you compared to O.J.?"
"Because a 'not guilty' implies that I didn't do it. It implies innocence. And innocence implies that she lied. And that was a pill that people didn't want to swallow. People wanted to believe all women. People wanted to, you know, why would anyone lie about struggle sessions? And it was just unconscionable for people to accept that some women lie. I mean, women are human, and humans lie. And so this should show you, and also scare you, in the power that media holds. And that's the real reason why I decided to share my own story on this channel. I mean, the video when I was only at like 5,000 subscribers, but I knew this channel was going to blow up. And the last thing that I wanted to happen during my come-up was for my false accuser or the media to tell my story, to control my narrative. Because even with all the receipts in the world, as we're seeing with this story, the media can paint whatever narrative they choose. And if they choose a narrative of guilt, it doesn't matter if you were proven innocent."
"So what was the public's reaction after the court's decision?"
"So even with the outcome saying that you were not guilty, you saw a bunch of articles saying that even if you were proven guilty in court, it doesn't mean that you're not innocent."
"The one of the funniest articles was right after the criminal trial, the next morning, in the Yale Daily News, was saying 'Not Not Guilty,' where the logic was that, well, just because he was found not guilty in a court of law doesn't mean in reality he's not guilty."
"Pendas? But for guilty stuff, there was a petition against me that was signed by 140,000 people. The media says it was 77,000 people, but it actually kept getting more and more signatures over time. And so it was people from all over the internet with all sorts of angry, vitriolic hatred online. This was at the height of Me Too. Because by the time the criminal trial ended in 2018, it was in the heart of the Me Too movement. And just like we broke it down earlier, when movements dominate the narrative, should it be any surprise that people feel comfortable comparing Saif to O.J. Simpson?"
"So now, even though criminal court found him guilty, it was irrelevant for this next challenge. Yale says under the new Dear Colleague policies, they were now tasked with looking at the same allegations to determine if Saif should be allowed to stay or be expelled. And as I mentioned, unlike a real court, the burden of proof was on Saif."
"I went through the same thing in 2018 in my college. When it comes to schools, at the end of the day, it's a business. And so their priority will always be about reputation and funding over truth. And so if that's the reality, and the context, just how media can influence public opinion, can student opinion also influence decisions?"
"I had about 20 Title IX online complaints filed against me. It was stuff like, 'He's in the dining hall with me and he looked at me.' Oh, so 20 other students and started submitting. Like, he was, he was in the elevator with me. I felt uncomfortable. I would like to file a Title IX online complaint. Parents emailing the school saying, 'How dare you let my daughter be in the same class?'"
"There was just, the school couldn't find me innocent. They, as a corporate entity, had no incentive to uphold due process the way the state court administration had to, where justice is blind. And so that's why they had to go really hard, specifically in my case, to find me guilty. And so they did. They took every possible step in the, in the book, suppressing evidence, not allowing witnesses to come in, not letting my attorney speak, not allowing me to have cross-examination. I couldn't question the girl. And so they expelled me."
"So after losing his status as a student in January of 2019, Saif was kind of [ __ ] as an international student. He only had about 60 days or so before he was considered staying in the US illegally. So he obviously had a choice to make, and he chose to fight back. Later that year, Saif filed a $110 million lawsuit against Yale, its admin, and Jane Doe, claiming defamation, breach of contract, and wrongful expulsion, bringing us back to present day in 2024, where he's still fighting that lawsuit that has garnered national attention. And I'll get into that and what's happening now, because this case may have the potential to change how false accusations are handled moving forward, and also why Jane Doe may not be anonymized as Jane Doe for long."
"Yale's hope was for me to just die in a ditch or be homeless and, you know, lost in California or Hawaii or somewhere. I sued in 2019, and yeah, I've been in this stupid fight since November 2015. It's almost a decade. And I told Yale that I'm happy to spend one more decade. I will fight this. I will make sure that the system is corrected."
"How old are you?"
"I am now 31."
"And you're supposed to graduate college in 2016."
"Yeah. It sucks. I'll have to live with this reputation and this huge damage that the media did to me during Me Too. But I'll recover. Yale continued to be [ __ ]. I was like, okay, this is war now. And I amassed resources and funding and then sued. I sued the administrators, I sued Yale, I sued Jane Doe for $110 million. And that's what's happening right now with his counter suit."
"So I think it's pretty obvious by now why exactly this case is so damn controversial. One side must absolutely hate Saif, and others probably see him as this sort of hero for the falsely accused. But whether you hate or love him, let's separate Saif from the case. Because what's not talked about enough is the potential for this case to change how accusations in general are dealt with moving forward. In the past, schools and institutions like Yale had broad immunity, meaning they couldn't easily be sued for how they handled their disciplinary cases. There was even more protection for accusers like Jane Doe, who had absolute immunity, which meant that they couldn't be countersued for making allegations, even if it was found to be false. But in 2021, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals made a major decision in Saif's counter lawsuit, meaning that Saif could now hold her legally accountable and proceed with the lawsuit for the false accusation. The decision was clearly groundbreaking because now it would open the door for others like myself, or maybe some of you guys watching, to challenge the protections that shielded accusers before."
"Uh, Yale was hoping for a scenario where the voices of the falsely accused will be quashed. It's easier now. And so the, and the second big obstacle that I have been aiming to get rid of, and it's been taking a year right now, is the pseudonym. So as you recall, I've been saying Jane Doe. My name is all over the media. Her name is not. Uh, I think the system would be fair if when an accusation is made, it is anonymous. And here in my situation, it is more, uh, problematic from the perspective of I was found not guilty, yet I'm still suffering consequences of the accusation, whether it's with friends, or whether it's business opportunities, you name it."
"You became a face of a movement that you had no desire to be involved in."
"I have zero desire to be a public figure. I do not want to be a public figure at all. On this, I just have to defend my reputation. I'm not against somebody making an accusation. It's important to have a good filter system, a good due process system to figure out who is lying and who's telling the truth. In cases like this, the accused automatically gets treated as guilty until proven innocent. And that's especially the case if you're a guy. And so, yes, obviously I have a bias in this story as someone who's gone through it myself. But just how due process in court is so important, I also find it important to do my own due diligence with this investigation. So I'll say this now, because if the gag order does get released, I would love to talk to Jane Doe and get her perspective. Because I hope that we can still all agree that the most important thing when it comes to accusations is truth and justice."
"So with that said, you have to remember that false accusations don't just destroy the lives of the accused, it also makes it harder for real victims. Before we move on with the rest of the story where I challenge Saif further, the question that I keep coming back to is: Should false accusers face the same punishment that perpetrators would have received if they were found guilty? Because just as I was finishing this video, a rare instance of a false accuser admitting to their lies came to light. But was it too little, too late?"
"In 2006, three Duke lacrosse players were accused by a stripper for misconduct, and the case became a national scandal with media and activists accusing the players of racism and privilege. Soon after, the lacrosse program was temporarily suspended, and some players were expelled and even received death threats. But just a year later, when DNA tests found no evidence or match, and the accusation was proven false, all charges were finally dropped. And the stripper, Crystal Magnum, never admitted to her false accusation and still faced no legal or financial consequences. But just this month, and nearly two decades after the incident, she finally made a statement: 'I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn't, and made up a story that wasn't true because I wanted validation from people, and not from God. I hope that they can forgive me.' So even though it's late, and I applaud her for at least coming forward, one thing is for certain: the damage done to those who were falsely accused can never be taken back."
"So I thought it was important to ask Saif on what impact this has had on his life eight years after the incident. What has been the reputational damage for your future trajectory and how people view you today?"
"I was not in control of my own destiny. I was forced to live and suffer through difficulties of not my own doing. That's at the heart of a false accusation. Or even if a person believes that I am innocent, they're still calculating the political splashback of like, well, do I give him a job? They have more to lose if anything, right? And so if there are other, you know, contenders, they would rather choose that. And so that's partially why I've sued for $110 million. I was going to do great things. I love this country. I came here and I do want to conquer a portion saying like, look, this is my business, this is my empire, this is my startup."
"And look, it's a fair point because who Saif represents absolutely asks the vibe or aura around this case. Because think about it, no offense, but if this was just some random frat kid in ASU, do you really think it would have gotten the national attention that the Duke lacrosse players or an Ivy League student like, like Saif got? Because no story is greater and more drama-inducing than when an elite falls."
"But now, I wanted to hear more about how it impacted Saif personally and challenge him further. Because is he completely innocent?"
"How did this experience impact your relationships?"
"I, I just dealt with all this on my own in in silence. The reason I did that is because anything you say can and will be used against you. I didn't want a situation where I accidentally talked to a guy who, who hates me, and now the problem is worse."
"Do you feel like you could have handled it any differently?"
"So that's an extremely poignant and appropriate and amazing question. There was a very difficult calculation that I had to do. A week before trial, I knew going into the trial that what the evidence says contradicts what the girl is saying. The media was, before even the trial started, was trashing me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to show that evidence and say, 'Hey, I'm innocent. Here's actual provable.' You care about truth or saying both? I have it here. There already was a bias built into the media, so they would twist it. I didn't want the girl to change her story because I knew she was lying, and I knew that I have evidence to prove her lies."
"Have you had other men reach out?"
"Um, that's happened to me since I came forward with my story. I had to assume you probably received even more of those. I've gotten a very fascinating insight into the ubiquity of this problem. The people who are accused are hurting in silence, and they don't know that they are not alone. That there are many, many others out there. A good chunk of people reach out saying, 'Hey, they went through something similar.'"
"Are you hopeful you're going to win your case?"
"Incredibly so."
"So whether you believe he's innocent or guilty, it's clear that this case has the potential to set a new precedent. And the first step may be to create a fairer balance between the accused and the accuser. Gag order is a phenomenally important piece because too many people hide behind a fake name. And you see this on the internet, like people make accusations or say random stuff on Twitter, YouTube comment, or behind a comment. Yeah, say it to somebody's face. Yeah. Too many people forget the human behind the screen. It's not that I am against hate speech. I think that's fundamentally a First Amendment protected activity. If you're going to accuse somebody and ruin their life, your name should be attached to your lies or your truth. Because right now, we're living in a time where we care so much about being on the right side of history that we rush to believe everything that the accuser says without ever hearing out the accused. From Cody Ko to Dr. Disrespect to Mr. Beast to countless others, we don't actually know what happened, but we rely and trust more on the snap judgments that we want to believe, not the truth that's been proven. Because initially, a lot of people were quick to defend Amber Heard and cancel Johnny Depp, but just as quickly, public sentiment has changed to support the person that they first canceled. And if things don't change, we're undeniably heading down a path where we can't even trust each other to want to help each other."
"What is your plan after you win?"
"You see this throughout with Olympics. Once somebody does it, then everybody else the next year. Four-minute mile for years, it was not able to be broken. Once someone did it, the next year, 20 people like broke it. That's a very common trope. One of my favorite quotes, uh, by my favorite philosopher, Mewtwo from Pokémon, he said in one of the movies, 'It's not the circumstances of one's birth that determines who we are. It's what we do with the gift of life that determines who we are.' Need to speaking facts."
"So I imagine that at this point, there's people watching who've been through it or know someone who's gone through something similar. And my message is the same for everyone who's already reached out to me: The fact is, you need to get a grip and quick. Because right now, you're standing for yourself and the truth, and it's on you to prove your innocence. And look, I've been through it. I know the moment you start [ __ ] yourself, you're [ __ ]. If you're going to go break down, do it in private. But in public, stay composed. And trust me, the truth will eventually prevail. Because when I say that what has happened to me is one of the worst and truly best things that has happened to me, I'm not saying this in some corny self-help way, but because it actually red-pilled me, like in the good way. The fact is, in America, power works behind closed doors. And to maintain it, it relies on silence and intimidation. And institutions like Yale or my college, Santa Clara University, understand that to a T. Where if you don't fight back, they can keep dealing you a rigged hand while counting on your fear to keep you from calling out their bluff. Because when my school suspended me, even with the insufficient evidence that was found against my accuser, it wasn't until I lawyered up, took lie detector tests, and threatened to sue, a tactic that they often use, that they suddenly discover a procedural error. And they never admitted that they were wrong, but they allowed me back in to graduate."
"So with all that said, whether my story or Saif's can inspire you, yourself, or anyone falsely accused, don't just owe it to yourself to fight back, but remember, it's for the real victims who desperately need to be heard. So like and comment for a part two where I'll talk to more who have been falsely accused, as well as those who have actually been harmed. Because just how nothing ever gets solved in America by staying silent and complacent, nothing will also ever be solved if we don't talk to both sides. And I learned that the hard way, so you don't have to. So if you like this, you can support me directly by signing up to our free weekly newsletter, Bridging the Bias, where we'll give you that one big story each week that you need to know and cut through the noise of news. Or if you like this Yap set, let me know in the comments, and I think you'll like this one too."