Yeshiva University Alleged to Have Kept Insurer Aig in the Dark about Sex Abuse Claims

By Daniel Beekman
New York Daily News
August 25, 2013

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/sicko-lies-insured-yeshiva-aig-dark-article-1.1436365

More than 30 men are claiming they were molested by faculty members at the Yeshiva University High School for Boys (above) between 1969 and 1989, but a letter obtained by The News indicates that the allegations were kept from its insurance company, AIG.

The seal of Yeshiva University.

Yeshiva University may have kept its insurance company in the dark about allegations of sex abuse at its all-boys prep school, a letter obtained by the Daily News reveals.

And Yeshiva has continued to withhold information from the insurer in the wake of a $380 million lawsuit brought by former students, the letter suggests.

More than 30 men are claiming they were molested by faculty members at the Yeshiva University Hig h School for Boys between 1969 and 1989.

Yeshiva declined to comment because the lawsuit is pending.

But the Aug. 13 letter from AIG to a Yeshiva lawyer sheds at least a small ray of light on the case.

It says AIG won’t cover Yeshiva for potential settlements with many of the accusers and cites the lawsuit filed in July in Manhattan Federal Court.

“According to the complaint, it now appears that members of the administration of YUHS were specifically aware of abuse involving Mordechai Twersky and Does One, Two, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen and Sixteen but failed to provide timely notice,” the letter states.

AIG writes that its decision to deny coverage is preliminary, in part because Yeshiva has “not yet responded to the questions propounded in our prior letters.”

The insurer has been waiting since June for the modern Orthodox Jewish university to disclose exactly what administrators knew about the sex abuse allegations and when they knew.

“Yeshiva University’s conduct since the public revelations of its multidecade sex-abuse coverup has been extremely dishonest and morally bankrupt,” said Kevin Mulhearn, a lawyer for many of the accusers.

“Yeshiva University seems to be operating from a twisted premise that if it sweeps its own craven and unconscionable conduct under the rug long enough and hard enough it will escape all accountability.”

Mulhearn argues Yeshiva should have come clean to AIG in order to reach settlements with the accusers. Instead, the men are headed toward trial on an “emotional roller coaster,” their lawyer said.

AIG covered the university under various policies from 1979 to 1994, with coverage limits ranging from $1 million to $9 million a year, according to the letter

Contact: dbeekman@nydailynews.com