Records detail Mets, Wilpon financial pain
Mets owner Fred Wilpon during spring training at Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Feb. 27, 2012) Credit: Alejandra Villa
The $83 million hit facing the owners of the New York Mets from their dealings with Bernard Madoff would be spread out over a mix of limited partnerships, trusts and individuals in amounts ranging from about $30 million to as little as one dollar, court records show.
In a summary judgment ruling Monday, Manhattan federal Judge Jed Rakoff said that the team owners, their families and businesses may have to come up with as much as $83 million to repay the fictitious profits they received from Madoff's giant fraud scheme. Rakoff also ordered a March 19 trial for most of those defendants, including team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, over $300 million Madoff trustee Irving Picard also wants back.
It was unclear Tuesday if Wilpon and Katz would appeal Rakoff's ruling. Since the judge hasn't issued a final order, there is nothing yet to appeal, one baseball official familiar with the case said Tuesday.
Rakoff said in his ruling that exactly how much money is owed and how it will be split among the Wilpons and their companies will be determined later. Ultimately, the $83 million could be reduced.
But if the full judgment stands, the biggest bill could be faced by the Mets Limited Partnership, which directly owns the team, for $28 million and the related Sterling Mets LP (which runs team operations) for $1.6 million, according to court records filed by Picard.
Fred Wilpon, the patriarch of the operation, received at least $1.6 million in excess profits from one Madoff account. Wilpon also was one of 17 investors who had pieces of other accounts that Picard alleged received about $18.8 million in profits, court records show. Wilpon's wife, Judith, received $6 million in profits, according to Picard's filings.
The smallest exposure on the $83 million involves Sterling Equities Associates, a Great Neck general partnership, which received just a dollar in profits, according to court filings.
A spokesman for Sterling, Wilpon's main business entity, declined to comment Tuesday on the profit amounts.
Based on Rakoff's order, at least 11 of the defendants -- all businesses -- won't face any exposure on the additional $300 million Picard is seeking.
The trustee claims that money is owed because Wilpon and Katz willfully turned a blind eye to Madoff's fraud, something Wilpon and Katz have strenuously denied.
