Court Orders Harvard to Provide Donor’s Financial Information

A federal judge has ordered Harvard to provide confidential financial information about one of its wealthy donors as part of a lawsuit involving the donor and an investor in his company.

In a lawsuit progressing in the High Court of Hong Kong, Charles C. Spackman ’94 has been accused of defrauding investors after the breakup of his company Littauer Technologies Co. Ltd in 2000. According to the suit, investor Sang Cheol Woo brought against Spackman, Woo suffered major losses after Littauer’s collapse, while Spackman reaped a personal profit of approximately $100 million.

Last week, a federal court in Boston ordered the University and Spackman’s daughter, a sophomore at Harvard, to testify and hand over documents requested under subpoena. Woo hopes that the documents will detail Spackman’s wealth and financial maneuverings.

According to the suit, Spackman has made “sizable donations” to Harvard. He was the co-chair of reunion gifts for his class, and the Alumni Association awarded him the Robert Flather ’54 award for encouraging young alumni to donate. He also created the Charles C. Spackman Scholarship Fund for students from Asia to attend Harvard.

University spokesperson Melodie L. Jackson declined to comment.

The suit states that there is “a strong basis to believe that Harvard is in possession of donation and other records that contain wire transfer data with account and routing numbers” as well as “other information about the financial institutions and accounts that Spackman uses.”

Records Harvard produces could also provide information about “payments from the Spackman Family Trust (or other third parties), made on behalf of Spackman.”

The suit also speculates that Spackman named his former company after the Littauer Center at Harvard, where he took economics courses.

Woo brought a suit against Spackman in 2003, but the Seoul District Court initially dismissed his claims. The Seoul High Court reversed the decision and ordered Spackman to pay approximately $4.5 million. The Supreme Court of South Korea affirmed the lower court’s decision, after Spackman filed an appeal. That figure has shot to $12 million with interest.

—Staff writer Leah S. Yared can be reached at leah.yared@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Leah_Yared.