In an e-mail to FishbowlNY, New York Sun editor Seth Lipsky responds to Pranay Gupte's claims that the paper hijacked the ex-Sun columnist's "Lunch at the Four Seasons" column and lied about their intentions:

Neither I (nor Michael Steinhardt) lied to Pranay about anything. I don't want to debate the particulars here. The fact is that I very much regretted -- and regret -- the loss of Pranay's column. He's a brilliant newspaperman, with an amazing range. In addition to his columns, he turned out some editorials for us on deadline with an astonishing speed and authority. I had been, and still am, hoping to find a way to get him back in the Sun. I can tell you from having played a role in starting four newspapers, one of the qualities it takes is patience. In any event, whatever paper he's joining can count itself lucky to have his enormous talents.

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