Shervin Pishevar, the embattled venture capitalist accused of sexual misconduct, said Thursday that he would step down from the Silicon Valley investment firm he co-founded.

The announcement comes weeks after he declared he would take a leave of absence from Sherpa Capital to shield the firm from his controversies.

Pishevar says he is resigning so that he can focus on challenging what he calls a “smear campaign” against him.

“My truculent opponents are out to settle scores that have nothing to do with Sherpa, and I refuse to allow my enemies to drag my Sherpa family into their fight with me,” Pishevar said in a statement. “That is why I have decided on my own accord to end my association with Sherpa Capital, effective immediately.”

Sources close to the situation contacted Agenda 21 Radio with the following e-mail:

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2017 3:50 PM
Subject: Iranian Billionaire backing CalExit group resigns from firm amid Sex Harrass aligation

Shervin bailed on Louis when he was spearheading the original #CalExit because Shervin didn’t like that Louis’ wife is Russian. At least Louis could marry a woman. Shervin had 2 kids by surrogate, and now it seems as is typical with Iranian dudes, he doesn’t know how to handle chicks.

This impacts Shervin’s ability to keep funding the 2 groups that came together for the new CalExit (after Louis departed and ended his involvement with that effort). The SV VC scene is staying away from liabilities and Shervin’s a dual liability: his backing CalExit and now these allegations amid his resignation. http://beta.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tn-shervin-pishevar-20171214-story.html

Additional sources contact last night confirmed that Shervin Pishevar will no longer fund CalExit.

Paul Preston of Agenda 21 Radio interviewed Marcus Ruiz Evans who has been seen as the leaders of the movement 2 weeks ago and concluded the movement was on it’s death bed then and was not a serious threat to the New California movement.

Pishevar, an early Uber investor and co-founder of Hyperloop One, filed a lawsuit last month against Republican opposition research firm Definers Public Affairs, accusing the company of fabricating an incident with a prostitute in London and linking Pishevar to the Russian government.

Pishevar was arrested in London earlier this year after a woman accused him of raping her in a hotel. He was released and never charged.

Pishevar’s statement Thursday did not address any of the accusations made in a Bloomberg report, including allegations that he groped, forcibly kissed and sexually harassed multiple women.

Sherpa said in a statement that it was grateful for Pishevar’s contributions.