Earlier this month, the University reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount in its lawsuit against former Vice President of Investments and Chief Investment Officer Thomas Kannam and 17 other defendants. The University dismissed Kannam in October 2009 and sued him one month later for allegedly violating his contract by sitting on several corporate boards without the administration’s knowledge and using University funds for personal expenses.
“Wesleyan has agreed to settle its claims against all of the defendants for a collective amount that Wesleyan believes is reasonable,” wrote Director of Media Relations and Public Relations David Pesci in an email to The Argus. “Beyond this, and the brief statements issued by certain of those defendants, the terms of the settlement are confidential, and none of the parties will have any additional comment.”
According to Michael Harrington, who represented the University in the case, a global settlement was reached which resolves the University’s lawsuit as well as the separate civil suit that then-Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal brought against Kannam on Aug. 23, 2010.
Harrington said that the injunction Blumenthal originally sought against Kannam, which could have barred him from working at certain financial institutions, was dropped.
“The injunction never really went forward because [the case] quickly went into arbitration so [the injunction] was sort of ‘back-burnered’ and then mooted,” Harrington said.
Because of the settlement’s confidentiality clause, it is unknown whether or not Kannam was issued any penalty beyond paying damages. A Superior Court judge was assigned to mediate the settlement negotiations.
Kannam had already been ordered last April by an arbitrator to pay more than $100,000 in damages and attorney fees to the University. In that instance, the University was required to pay Kannam about $8,000 in attorney fees and split nearly $33,000 in arbitration fees. The recent settlement represents at least part of the remainder of the damages that the University was seeking.
Kannam’s lawyer, Stephen Fitzgerald, did not return a voice message asking for comment.