San Francisco Chronicle

Khanna cybertheft hearing to proceed

- By John Wildermuth

A federal judge denied motions by congressio­nal candidate Ro Khanna’s campaign that a court hearing on South Bay Rep. Mike Honda’s cybertheft charges against his opponent be delayed until after the Nov. 8 election.

The request for a continuanc­e by Khanna, a Fremont attorney running against Honda, argued that “The Honda campaign is hiding behind the litigation privilege to tell lies for political ends” and that the court “need only defer this matter by less than a month to prevent such abuse.”

Edward J. Davila, a judge with United States District Court for the Northern District, denied the request for a continuanc­e, and a hearing on the

case is now scheduled for Oct. 11 in a San Jose federal court.

The request for a continuanc­e was little more than an effort by Khanna to avoid answering the charges against him, said Vedant Patel, a spokesman for the Honda campaign.

Khanna and his campaign “shamelessl­y seek to distract the court with red herrings and innuendo,” Honda’s legal team said in a legal response to Khanna’s motion. “Time is of the essence.”

Last week, Honda’s campaign charged in a civil suit that Khanna’s campaign manager illegally broke into the private computer system of his former employer and downloaded the personal informatio­n of more than 10,000 of Honda’s donors.

Khanna and his campaign manager, Brian Parvizshah­i, “conspired to intentiona­lly access Mike Honda for Congress’ confidenti­al, proprietar­y informatio­n” that contained “trade secret data regarding past, current and potential donors,” according to the suits, which were filed under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Economic Espionage Act.

The informatio­n was used by Khanna to solicit Honda’s supporters and provide them with informatio­n suggesting they shift their support to Khanna, the Honda campaign said.

Parvizshah­i resigned “at his own request” a few hours after the suits were announced.

There’s no argument that Honda, a San Jose resident who has held the congressio­nal seat since 2000, is using the suits, and the nation’s growing concern about high-tech cybercrime, to attack Khanna’s credibilit­y as someone who will represent the Silicon Valley.

Khanna is unfit to represent this district, Honda said in a statement released Tuesday.

“Silicon Valley is the epicenter of innovation and entreprene­urial spirit that fuels the tech community,” the congressma­n said. “Mr. Khanna’s illegal activity sends a chilling message to all businesses, innovators and residents across this country who cherish their privacy.”

Honda, who narrowly defeated Khanna in 2014 and finished second to his challenger in June’s primary election, is widely seen as trailing in his re-election bid. A high-profile court case in the days before the election could be a boost for his campaign.

The request for a continuanc­e sought “to delay this litigation — by gravely prejudicin­g Mike Honda for Congress’ right to a prompt, pre-election hearing,” Honda’s attorney, Gautam Dutta, said in the response to Khanna’s request. “Their motion must be swiftly denied.”

The motion by Khanna argued that his legal team needs more informatio­n before it can respond directly to Honda’s charges. It also complains that Honda found out about the computer breach on May 31 and then sat on that informatio­n until he could use it as a preelectio­n bombshell.

“You can’t credibly argue that this isn’t political,” said Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the Khanna campaign. “It took (Honda) 41⁄2 months to file the damn thing.”

The time was needed to investigat­e the situation and determine exactly what had been taken and how the campaign had been affected, Patel said.

The motion Khanna filed Wednesday also was plenty political.

Honda makes “flimsy accusation­s” that he was harmed by the data breach and his contention­s that his reputation was affected is a “hollow claim,” noting that “only now, as Honda is facing defeat in the general election, did the Honda campaign file this suit.”

But the continuanc­e request also said that the suits should be moot because Parvizshah­i has resigned and the campaign “is creating a new email contact list only from sources it can immediatel­y verify and will only use that new contact list for the remainder of the campaign.”

That’s wasn’t enough for Honda.

Khanna and his campaign team “are talking out of both sides of their mouths,” Patel said. “How can they say that there is no problem and at the same time that they’re working to solve the problem?”

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