Judge: Mets Could Owe $386M At Most In Madoff Suit
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — A judge says the owners of the Mets could be forced to pay up to $386 million to resolve claims by a trustee collecting money for jailed financier Bernard Madoff's investors.
Federal Judge Jed Rakoff noted the figure in an order issued Wednesday.
A court-appointed trustee who sued the owners of the Mets had asked for $1 billion. Rakoff tossed out most of the claims in a decision issued Tuesday.
Rakoff's written decision cleared some legal clouds that had been hanging over the team since Irving Picard brought the lawsuit against Mets owner Fred Wilpon and others executives.
The lawsuit had alleged that the owners of the Mets either knew or should have known that Madoff was operating a multi-decade fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of billions of dollars.
Lawyers for the Mets have repeatedly denied Picard's claim.
In his decision, Rakoff said Picard "while less than overwhelming in this regard, pleads sufficient allegations to survive a motion to dismiss so far as this claim of willful blindness is concerned."
The 73-year-old Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence.
Fair decision by the judge? Be heard in the comments below...
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