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5. For the past five years I have served as the editor of either AR or Absolute
Return, one of its predecessor publications. I was the editor of Absolute Return until it merged
with Alpha last year, at which time I was chosen to be the editor-in chief of the new magazine.
Under my editorship at AR, the magazine has won five ASBPE (American Society of Business
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Publication Editors) awards, including best new publication of 2009. During my 27 years as a
professional financial journalist, and prior to joining Absolute Return, I was Editor of Investment
Dealers’ Digest, a weekly magazine covering Wall Street (1999-2005), U.S. editor of
Euromoney magazine (1995-1999), Senior writer, European editor and Senior editor at Global
Finance magazine (1987-1994), among other positions. While at Global Finance, I received a
first place award for editorial excellence from ASBPE for an article on the Russian mafia,
“Gangster Economics,” published in 1993.
6. AR is a financial news magazine that is a thought leader for the hedge fund
industry, delivering authoritative content about hedge funds online and in print. AR is a must-
read for anyone hoping to keep ahead of the curve in the world of hedge funds, bringing
transparency and accountability to a secretive industry that is playing a growing role in the
financial markets and for institutional investors. Because hedge funds are private investment
vehicles, little information about them is available to the public. New financial regulations
passed in Congress this year will change that very little. At the same time, this industry controls
close to $2 trillion in assets globally. Historically hedge funds were for the super wealthy, but
now college endowments and corporate and public pensions are becoming their dominant
investors. These investors have long clamored for more transparency, a call that became louder
after the financial crisis of 2008. AR is the primary publication that serves the hedge fund
industry, its investors and their service providers. We provide sound, thorough and important
financial journalism. Our economy, our educational institutions and our retirements are best
served by a financial media that is independent of financial pressure or coercion.
7. Elliott Management, with about $17 billion in assets, is the fifteenth largest hedge
fund in the United States. It is also one of the oldest and has a strong track record, all of which
makes information about Elliott extremely newsworthy, not just for AR, but for every financial
publication and major news outlet. Both the opinions of founder Paul Singer and the positions
and performance of the fund are of great interest in the hedge fund community and elsewhere.
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Elliott has a reputation for using its vast resources to exert its power and influence over
competitors, adversaries and now evidently financial journalism. 1
8. AR’s September 1, 2010 article, a copy of which is attached hereto for your
reference as Exhibit A, describes Elliott’s market positions and indicates that some of these
positions have had a negative impact on the fund’s performance last quarter. This information
was obtained from a confidential source with the promise that his or her identity would not be
disclosed. The resulting report is newsworthy and is of the highest interest to AR’s readers in the
hedge fund industry.
9. It should be noted that the Investor Letters, despite efforts to characterize them as
the closely held confidential material that are never seen by the public (Scott Tagliarini
Affidavit, p.4), are often quoted in the media and information contained in Investor Letters is
widely circulated in the hedge fund industry. In fact, AR’s publication of information from the
Investor Letter (and disclosure of the Investor Letters to the press) is not unique. More than a
year ago, on May 14, 2009, Bloomberg News reported on Elliott’s positions.2 Elliott has not
objected to disclosure of Investor Letter content in the past when its performance was among the
highest in the industry. However, with its financial results lower this year, Elliott conveniently
claims the disclosure of Investor Letter content is a violation of its rights. Simply put, Elliott
wishes to “have its cake and eat it too”. The fact that Elliott has overlooked and even condoned
the disclosure of Investor Letter content in the past when its performance was better should be
noted when evaluating its present effort to suppress the details of less advantageous financial
information, which include an outrageous attempt to compel AR to reveal confidential news
sources in violation of AR’s rights under New York law.
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Elliot principal Paul Singer, Paul Singer, was featured in the New York Times (August 28, 2010) in a
page one story entitled, “G.O.P. Has a Potent Ally on Wall Street”, regarding Mr. Singer’s raising of
millions of dollars through fundraisers he hosts for “like-minded candidates who often share his distaste
for what they view as governmental over-meddling in the financial industry”.
2
Weblink reprints of two articles from AR that mention Elliott can be found on an Elliott Associates’
sponsored statement on Google http://www.elliottprofiles.com/
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10. The Investor Letter is available to all of Elliott’s many investors, which likely
number in the hundreds, if not thousands. The Investor Letters are admittedly circulated under
the terms of confidentiality, but the efforts to maintain confidentiality are not extraordinary.
Many investors and their investment advisers have access to the Investor Letters. Given the
number of people that have access to the Investor Letters, it is foreseeable, and quite frankly very
likely, that potential disclosure of the information contained in the Investor Letters would occur,
and in fact has occurred in the past without any prior known objection by Elliot.
11. Elliott claims that “publication of this confidential information will cause
significant harm to Elliott and negatively affect its competitive advantage in relation to other
market participants” and “would impact negotiations Elliot has” or “would give other market
participants a competitive advantage to the detriment of Elliott, affecting Elliott’s future results”
(Tagliarino Affidavit, p. 4). It is respectfully submitted that these vague, non-specific, inchoate
consequences, if any, are the natural result of information being circulated in the market and do
not constitute factors to undermine the absolute protection of confidential news sources afforded
by the New York Reporter’s Shield Law.
12. In its Petition, Elliott seeks “pre-action disclosure so that Elliott can ascertain the
identity of the person or persons who made unauthorized use of confidential, copyrighted
information.” Elliott seeks the identity of one of its own investors who has violated “his or her
confidentiality agreement” for the purposes of instituting a civil action for breach of contract
(Tagliarini Affidavit, p. 4). It is respectfully submitted, that instead of demanding a news
organization to reveal a confidential source – an action that AR vehemently opposes – Elliott has
other, admittedly less convenient, means available to obtain the information it seeks, should it
choose.
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13. Elliott admits that the “Confidential Letter” was made available to a “defined set
of recipients via a password-protected website” (Tagliarini Affidavit, p. 2). If the consequences
are as dire as Elliott depicts, Elliott can proceed with identifying the “defined set of recipients”
by means and information available to them other than subverting the privilege afforded
journalists to protect their confidential sources under the New York Reporter’s Shield Law.
14. In closing, it is important to note that due to the secretive nature of hedge funds
financial journalists often rely on confidential sources to report information concerning hedge
funds. The protection of these sources’ identities is sacrosanct to our jobs as journalists. To grant
Elliott’s motion would set a dangerous precedent and have a chilling effect on freedom of the
press.
___________/Michelle
Celarier/_______________________
Michelle Celarier
____________________________
Notary Public