Indian American CEO Zain Jaffer charged with sexually abusing his kids

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Indian American Zain Jaffer, the CEO of Vungle, was fired after he arrested and charged with sexually abusing his three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter.

According to San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe, Jaffer is charged with two counts of child abuse, a lewd act upon a child, attempted oral copulation with a person under 14-years-old and assault with intent to cause great bodily harm.

The SFGate reported that authorities also charged Jaffer with a misdemeanor count of battery upon a police officer and emergency personnel along with an initial charge of attempted murder, which was dropped due to not enough evidence.

Wagstaffe said police arrested Jaffer at his family’s house in Hillsborough, California at 4 a.m. on Oct. 15 after his father reportedly called police and when they arrived at the scene, they found Jaffer engaged in the illegal contact with the minors and was arrested.

According to a Forbes report, he was then arraigned on the following Tuesday and at the defense’s request, did not enter a plea; in an email to Forbes, Jaffer’s attorney, Daniel Olmos said “Mr. Jaffer has pleaded not guilty and he will not comment publicly at this time.”

After Jaffer was arrested, Vungle removed him from their board and appointed COO Rick Tallman to his place.

In a statement, Tallman said “we are aware of the extremely serious allegations leveled against our former CEO, and we are shocked beyond words. While these charges are completely unrelated to his former role at the company, they are obviously so serious that it led to his immediate removal.”

“We learned of the allegations late Monday night, and convened a board meeting, removed him as CEO and I was appointed permanent CEO all within 24 hours. He did not step down for personal reasons as has been erroneously reported. We removed him as rapidly as possible. The actions of one individual are in no way reflective of the almost 200 dedicated and hard-working people who work for Vungle. Everyone at the company is appalled and deeply saddened by these events,” Tallman added.

Jaffer’s profile on LinkedIn says he previously served as CEO for two other tech firms, Mediaroots and CyberPlanet before he founded Vungle in 2011.

He is a graduate of both the University of London and London Business School and was named to the Forbes Under 30 list in 2012.

Jaffer is currently being held in San Mateo’s County Jail on $300,000 bail and was to appear in court on Nov. 1.