Lawsuit: Mets reaped $300M in fictitious Madoff profits

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

Lawyers say a court-appointed trustee wants the owners of the New York Mets to give up $300 million - money he says is fake profit from Bernard Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme.

The demand is made in a complaint ordered unsealed Friday in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

The complaint by trustee Irving Picard names Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon and others connected to the Mets and Sterling Equities as defendants. Lawyers agreed to make it public after settlement talks broke down.

The suit has cast a cloud over the Mets ownership, which has said it's exploring a partial sale of the team.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41427160/ns/business-sports_biz/

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On edit:


The trustee representing Bernie Madoff's victims is seeking at least $300 million and possibly much more from the owners of the Mets in a lawsuit unsealed Friday, claiming that Madoff's "fictitious profits" flowed through every aspect of the team's business.

Sterling Equities, the company that controls the Mets, "willfully turned a blind eye to every objective indicia of fraud before them," wrote Irving Picard in a 373-page complaint.

The lawsuit claims fraudulent Madoff money was used for "payroll, players' deferred compensation, and stadium operations," and that "many and varied" warning signs came from "financial industry experts and trusted advisors," including Merill Lynch.

Fred Wilpon and his Sterling partners reacted immediately, saying they "categorically reject" the charges.

"We should not be made victims twice over - the first time by Madoff, and again by the Trustee's actions," said a release from Wilpon, his son Jeff, Mets co-owner Saul Katz and Sterling Equities. The men's grip on the Mets franchise is at stake in the coming legal war, and they have already sought partners to join in ownership of the team they've owned outright since 2002.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2011/02/04/2011-02-04_mets_owner_fred_wilpon_react_to_the_unsealing_of_the_lawsuit_filed_by_irving_pic.html#ixzz1D17U2gwI

[Nye Bevan]

1. :( nt

[nyy1998]

2. Headline is misleading, it's not the Mets organization per se, but the owners of the team.

The Wilbons made a huge mess and they're trying to sell 25% of the team(w/o any say or power).

[Poll_Blind]

3. Irving Picard is incredibly tenacious in getting money back for the victims. So far he has....

...helped recover at leas 6 billion dollars.

He does not give up.

PB

[nyc 4 Biden]

4. Please sell my dear mets to a competent owner. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

5. +1000

[RamboLiberal]

6. I wish they would sell my Bucco(Pirates) to a good owner

Nuttings - apt name for our loser owners!