Appeals Court Issues Mixed Ruling On Warshaw-Soros Lawsuit

The Connecticut Superior Court has issued a mixed ruling in the legal dispute between Connoisseur Media CEO Jeff Warshaw and Soros Fund Management, partially granting both parties' requests. 

Judge Sheila Ann Ozalis allowed limited discovery into Warshaw’s 2009 partnership with ABRY Partners while restricting broader subpoenas into his business history, balancing Soros’s probe with Warshaw’s privacy concerns.

The decision permits Soros Fund’s attorneys, from Wiggin and Dana LLP and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, to depose ABRY Partners’ custodian of records in Boston and obtain documents related solely to a 2009 distressed radio debt fund Warshaw formed with ABRY and MatlinPatterson, which reportedly doubled investors’ money in three months. 

However, the court struck down Soros’s broader requests for “all written agreements,” “all oral agreements,” and “all communications or services” between Warshaw and ABRY, deeming them overly intrusive and irrelevant. 

Jeff Warshaw

Warshaw’s legal team successfully secured a protective order to limit the scope.The ruling stems from Soros’s October 10 motion for a court commission to depose ABRY in Massachusetts, which hasn’t adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, necessitating Connecticut’s approval.

Soros argued the 2009 deal could shed light on Warshaw’s investment patterns, relevant to their dispute over an Audacy arrangement. Warshaw’s attorneys countered that ABRY’s mention in the complaint was minimal and accused Soros of a “fishing expedition.”

This outcome allows Soros to explore whether Warshaw’s ABRY deal mirrors the contested Soros arrangement while shielding Warshaw’s broader financial history. The deposition will proceed in Boston under a court-appointed commissioner per Massachusetts law.