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WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who has.
A BC medical spa operator serving an 11-year sentence for sexually assaulting clients during vaginal tightening and incontinence treatments has been released from prison pending an appeal.
Farshad Khojsteh Kashani was sentenced Sept. 16 after a jury found him guilty of seven counts of sexual assault related to seven female clients of the now-defunct Fab Skin Care in Burnaby.
On September 23, Khojsteh Kashani filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence, arguing that the judge erred and that the verdict was “unreasonable or not supported by the evidence.”
He was granted bail by the BC Court of Appeal on Nov. 28, with conditions including 24-hour house arrest, surrender of all expired and unexpired travel documents and that he not contact any of the victims.
In addition, he was asked to post $150,000 cash with the court clerk and post a $400,000 bond, according to Ann Seymour, spokeswoman for the BC Attorney’s Office.
The names of the victims are protected due to a court-ordered publication ban.
RCMP previously said the first victim came forward in 2019, followed by a second in 2021.
When the charges against Khojsteh Kashani was announced in 2022, while five other women appeared.
To her grounds for convictionJudge Lisa A. Warren said Khojsteh Kashani was guilty of touching each of the victims sexually while performing a non-surgical “vaginal resuscitation” treatment using a high-intensity focused ultrasound machine.
Khostej Kashani also promoted the machine as a cure for incontinence.
Women receiving the treatment typically lie on their backs in a “Pap smear” position, Warren said in her ruling, while a wand that delivers ultrasound waves is inserted into their vagina, rotated and gradually withdrawn.
“The practitioner should touch the client’s vaginal area only to the extent necessary to guide the rod during initial insertion,” the ruling states.
However, one woman testified that Khostej Kashani asked her to turn over with her buttocks up while he performed the procedure from behind.
The victims also testified that he penetrated their vaginas with his fingers and rubbed their clitoris, and that he made thrusting movements with his fingers or the stick — described in one instance as “aggressive.”
Some of the women claimed he ignored their pleas to stop and made sexually charged comments during the attacks.
“Emotional and psychological distress”
“In each case, the sexual touching was highly invasive and five of the seven complainants suffered significant physical pain during the sexual assaults,” Warren said in her decision.
“All complainants have experienced ongoing emotional and psychological distress.”
Court documents say Kostej Kashani trained and worked as a doctor in Iran before coming to Canada as a permanent resident in 2011 with the intention of practicing medicine in British Columbia.
After failing to meet the English language proficiency requirements to work as a doctor, he switched to the realm of medical aesthetics.
Warren noted that Khostej Kashani has no prior criminal record. During his trial, he argued that he had only performed legal aspects of the vaginal tightening procedure that were misunderstood by the victims.
The sentencing decision says Kostej Kashani and his wife have since re-established a new and successful medical aesthetic/naturopathy clinic together.
No date has been set for the appeal hearing.
If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety or the safety of others around you, call 911. For support in your area, you can search for crisis lines and local services through Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database. ,
