Leon Cooperman, the hedge-fund legend who’s embroiled in a fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission over insider trading allegations, defended himself, saying he “always followed the law.”

“I’m not going to let them unfairly destroy my legacy,” Cooperman told CNBC.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month alleged Cooperman's trades earned roughly $4 million when his fund Omega Advisors invested in Atlas Pipeline Partners six years ago, before it sold a gas processing facility, Reuters reported.

Cooperman was a big shareholder in the company and used his position to obtain confidential information about the sale that other investors did not know about, the agency said in its civil case.

"The damage to the firm has dramatically impacted the opportunity for professional growth for my 43 partners and associates," Cooperman, 73, said in a statement released Tuesday ahead of appearances on CNBC and Bloomberg TV.

"We could have settled this matter with the SEC for an amount that is far less than I donate to charity every year. But I refused to do so because I know that we acted appropriately and lawfully," he said in the statement.

"It took me 50 years of very hard work, long hours and playing by the rules to get where I am professionally, and I'm not going to let my legacy be destroyed unfairly," he said.

“Information is not a crime,” Cooperman told CNBC, adding that he was never given material, confidential information by a company’s management, though if he was, he would ask them to issue a press release disclosing the information.

Cooperman said there was “absolutely no case here.”  He reiterated his vow to fight the case. “Money is not an issue,” he said of his defense.

(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report.)

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