Mets Owners to Pay $162 Million to Madoff Trustee

[Sefket]

By CHAD BRAY And REED ALBERGOTTI

<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304636404577291210170314378.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories">SOURCE</a>

The owners of the New York Mets baseball team have agreed to pay $162 million to settle a lawsuit against them seeking to recover funds for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, moments before a civil trial was expected to begin.

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for Mr. Madoff's firm, had sued the Mets owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, as well as their families and business associates for more than $300 million they invested with Mr. Madoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges three years ago.

As part of the settlement announced in Manhattan federal court Monday, the Mets owners won't have to make a payment for three years. Instead, they will surrender any recoveries from their claims against the bankruptcy estate, which amount to about $178 million.

After three years, the Mets will make payments to the estate to cover any amounts not resolved by their claim recoveries. Messrs. Wilpon and Katz will personally guarantee up to $29 million of the settlement.

The stakes were high in the case. The Mets owners couldn't afford to repay the $300 million in principal invested and later withdrawn that Mr. Picard is additionally seeking, say people familiar with the team's finances and with the Wilpon family. A loss might have meant they might have had to sell additional stakes in the team and could have possibly lost control of the team.

Messrs. Katz and Wilpon both said outside the courthouse that they were "very pleased" with settlement. "Now I guess I can smile," Mr. Wilpon said.

Mr. Picard had contended the Mets owners were "willfully blind" to signs that Mr. Madoff was carrying out a fraud. The Mets owners said they had no inkling Mr. Madoff was carrying out a fraud and were victims like thousands of others.

As part of the settlement, which has to be approved by April 13, Mr. Picard dropped his claims of willful blindness. "The settlement we announced in court confirms that Mr. Wilpon and Mr. Katz and their partners acted at all times in good faith and didn't act willfully blind," said Robert Wise Jr., a lawyer for the Mets owners.

The agreement also covers a prior ruling by the judge that the Mets owners and their associates would have to return up to $83.3 million in alleged "fictitious profits."

David Sheehan, a lawyer for the Mr. Picard, said the settlement was reached Friday after talks between the parties heated up earlier in the week. Messrs. Wilpon and Katz weren't directly involved in the discussions, he said.

"It isn't whether we win or lose; it's that we enhance the fund for the victims," Mr. Sheehan said.

Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, the court-appointed mediator in the case, told reporters following the brief court hearing that there was never a time when the parties weren't at the negotiating table.

For Mr. Picard, who has filed more than 1,000 lawsuits in the Madoff liquidation, a loss in court could have been a blow to his reputation and provide a road map for defendants in other lawsuits. He has suffered a recent string of legal setbacks in a series of lawsuits he has filed to recover money lost in the fraud.

Mr. Picard has recovered about $11 billion of the $17.3 billion in invested principal estimated to be lost in the Madoff fraud.

"Although the outcome is an anticlimax, it is always helpful when the parties are positively able to resolve their disputes," U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said. Jury selection had been expected to begin in the case later Monday.

Write to Chad Bray at chad.bray@wsj.com and Reed Albergotti at reed.albergotti@wsj.com

[cody]

prick

[Joshyz0rs]

baseball is SO fucking boring :(