An NCAA wrestling official who runs a legitimate YouTube channel dedicated to youth wrestling is suing an Iowa woman he says falsely accused him after porn websites pirated his wrestling videos.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa by Nima Gharavi, a YouTuber and self-described “registered wrestling official” with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Illinois High School Athletic Association, Illinois Elementary School Association and other entities.
The lawsuit names as a defendant Allyson Schwab of the Cedar Falls area, a photographer who allegedly has a substantial social media following for the youth wrestling content she produces.
In his lawsuit, Gharavi alleges that for many years, he has created videos of youth wrestling matches, initially for the exclusive use of wrestling officials. Gharavi says he subsequently created a public YouTube channel to share his passion for the sport and called it Midwest Wrestle. That channel now has more than 175,000 followers on YouTube, Gharavi claims.
At some point, the lawsuit alleges, Gharavi realized that some websites with which he has no connection had copied, without his knowledge or permission, video content from Midwest Wrestle and posted it to third-party websites that contained pornography or other objectionable content.
As a result, Gharavi submitted hundreds of formal “take-down requests” to various websites, asking them to remove his content from their sites, and also served 11 subpoenas to various website hosts and platforms, seeking information on those who had pirated his videos.
In December 2023 and January 2024, the lawsuit alleges, Schwab published multiple posts to her X (formerly Twitter) account, encouraging parents to watch out for “suggestive” online videos of youth wrestling matches that were generating hundreds of thousands of views.
“This makes me sick and why I got this convo going,” Schwab allegedly wrote in one post. “So many parents don’t know their kids are on someone’s YouTube… No reason a 46kg youth girls match should have 2.6 million views … The kids think it’s normal to have 400k views on their video from a local youth or hs tournament…”
The lawsuit states that while Schwab’s posts did not explicitly name Gharavi or Midwest Wrestle, details in her posts corresponded to Midwest Wrestle’s viewership. For example, the lawsuit claims, Midwest Wrestle was the only YouTube channel to have garnered 2.6 million views of a 46kg youth girls wrestling match.
At about the same Schwab posted her comments, Gharavi was “ejected” from the Midlands Championships wrestling tournament by Northwestern University Head Wrestling Coach Matt Storniolo, the lawsuit alleges, asserting that Schwab had essentially accused Gharavi of conduct that “warranted denial of credentials by schools and tournament directors.”
After Gharavi was ejected from the Midlands Championships, Schwab “reached out to Coach Storniolo, unprompted, to praise him for ejecting Mr. Gharavi,” and called him her “hero,” the lawsuit asserts.
The lawsuit goes on to allege that in the ensuing months, several athletic organizations canceled or declined to renew their contracts with Gharavi, a third party published Gharavi’s home address on social media alongside the false allegations, and Gharavi was the target of threats and an attempted home break-in.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for defamation, invasion of privacy by painting Gharavi in a false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress and tortious interference with business relationships.
Schwab has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. The Iowa Capital Dispatch was unable to reach Schwab for comment.
