Aurelius released a Dec. 21 letter from Kasowitz, in which Kasowitz accused Ichel and Aurelius chairman Mark Brodsky of breaking state law by telling American Lawyer alum Alison Frankel of Reuters and a Bloomberg reporter that MBIA’s settlements with banks that held structured finance policies illustrated the bond insurer’s precarious financial situation. (Ichel made a similar statement to the Litigation Daily last month, after MBIA reached a settlement with Morgan Stanley.) “These statements violate, among other things, New York Insurance Law Section 2604, which prohibits willful false statements concerning the financial conditions of insurance companies,” Kasowitz wrote. He demanded that Ichel and Brodsky “immediately cease and desist from making any such false and derogatory statements concerning MBIA.”
Ichel responded in a letter dated Dec. 22 that he found Kasowitz’s statements “offensive,” and he promised that if Kasowitz was “truly serious about attempting to chill further public commentary,” Aurelius would publish the letters. Now the hedge fund has done exactly that.
