Judge Rules Harvard Must Release Financial Information on a Major Donor

March 2, 2017; New York Times

Harvard University has been ordered by a federal judge in Boston to release any financial information that it has on a high dollar donor. Charles C. Spackman of the Spackman Group is a wealthy entrepreneur who has made a number of donations to Harvard, his alma mater. The Judge wants all bank accounts, routing numbers, wire transfers, and other interbank messages Spackman used to send the money.

Spackman is not just a donor. Not only has he sponsored a scholarship fund for Asian students, but he also leads the Harvard-Asia Scholarship Council and has served as a co-chairman of reunion gifts for his graduating class.

The ruling comes in response to a suit to collect a judgment against Spackman filed by investor Sang Cheol Woo. Douglas A. Kellner, a Manhattan lawyer who specializes in recovering hidden assets, says that the ruling has implications for the money already received by Harvard from Spackman. “If he diverted funds to Harvard when he should have been paying his judgment, that’s a fraudulent transfer,” Mr. Kellner said. “They could sue Harvard to get the money back, and they’d be entitled to get it back if they can show that it was fraudulently transferred.”

John Han, a lawyer with the firm Kobre & Kim, which is handling the investor’s case, said the investor has no plans to sue Harvard at this time.—Ruth McCambridge