Windsor boss who shared sexually explicit photos of employee sentenced to house arrest

When the woman indicated she wished to end the relationship Sameh Aghbari began making threats against her life and her reputation.

A Windsor businessman who secretly made over 50 sexually explicit recordings of a female employee and then threatened to “expose her” to her family and colleagues was sentenced to ten months of house arrest on Tuesday. Sameh Aghbari, 55, made the woman’s life an “absolute hell” after she tried to put an end to a romantic relationship with him while she was employed at his accounting firm, Ontario Court Justice Mikolaj Bazylko said during a sentencing hearing. Aghbari “exploit(ed) to the absolute maximum” his position of authority as the woman’s employer by sharing nude videos of the woman to her parents and threatening to kill her if she chose to pursue a relationship with another man, the judge said.

Aghbari previously pleaded guilty to a total of three criminal counts of criminal harassment, uttering a death threat and distributing intimate images without consent. A non-publication order prohibits the media from sharing information that could identify the victim. According to an agreed statement of facts shared with the Star, Aghbari began a relationship with the woman shortly after she was hired at Aghbari’s accounting firm in 2020, but he became increasingly “abusive and threatening” as the relationship progressed.

Aghbari “would psychologically manipulate (the employee) through promises of marriage and career opportunity” and secretly recorded interactions between himself and the victim on surveillance cameras at the accounting firm, the facts stated. When the woman indicated to Aghbari that she wished to cease their relationship and her employment at the firm, Aghbari began making threats against her life and her reputation. “If you marry someone else, I would take you by force,” Aghbari told the woman, according to the agreed facts.

“By god, I will kill him, kill you and kill myself too.” When the woman attempted to leave her employment, Aghbari showed her a folder he had made of the saved sexually explicit videos in his possession and threatened to expose the images to other employees and to members of her family, saying he would “ensure he destroyed her life,” the facts stated. Aghbari “continually harassed her with repeated communication and incessant phone calls,” the facts said.

Following his threats, Aghbari created fake social media accounts in the woman’s name and on one occasion, used a colleague’s email account to share three explicit photographs of the woman. On another occasion, according to the facts, Aghbari sent two explicit video clips of the woman over WhatsApp to her elderly father. After Aghbari’s arrest on Oct. 15, 2024, by Windsor Police, officers seized more than 50 sexually explicit surveillance recordings of the victim at Aghbari’s house and office.

Aghbari’s actions were “calculated” and carried out over a sustained period of time by “a person in a position of authority,” assistant Crown attorney Kyrstin Krainz said during the sentencing hearing. Instead of accepting the employee’s decision to end their relationship, Aghbari “threatened her life, threatened her future partners, threatened her reputation and sought to maintain control over her through intimidation and fear through the use of these photographs,” Krainz said. “What I have suffered has led to a deep psychological, emotional scar that I continue to endure every day,” the woman wrote in a victim impact statement read out by Krainz.

“I continue to live in constant fear of what the defendant may do or publish in the future in retaliation against me or my family.” Justice Bazylko agreed with the Crown that Aghbari’s actions were not a “momentary lapse of judgement” and said the number of photos in his possession and the impact on the victim were aggravating factors. But the judge pointed to Aghbari’s “very meaningful guilty plea,” his expression of remorse and his continued employment as mitigating factors for sentencing.

The Crown had requested a 12-month conditional sentence to be served at home while the defence had sought a six-month conditional sentence. “Everybody is affected by what I did,” Aghbari said when given an opportunity to speak in court. “I know I caused big harm for the assistant, for her family, for my family as well . . .

I’m really sorry from the bottom of my heart for everything.” Aghbari’s 10-month conditional sentence will be followed by three years of probation.