By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN FEDERAL COURT — The trustee representing Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff's victims is suing the owners of the New York Mets for at least $300 million, according to a lawsuit unsealed on Friday.
Irving Picard, who represents the victims, alleges that Sterling Equities, the company that controls the Mets, profited by at least that amount by investing with Madoff while turning a blind eye to the scammer's fraudulent behavior.
In a scathing complaint, lawyers for Picard wrote that Mets co-owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz reaped "hundreds of millions in fictitious profits over their quarter-century relationship with Madoff."
"The Sterling partners, their family members, trusts and Sterling-related entities made so much easy money from Madoff for so long that despite the many objective indicia of fraud before them, the Sterling partners chose to simply look the other way," the 373-page complaint continued.
The owners promptly replied in their own public statement denying Picard's accusations.
"The trustee's lawsuit is an outrageous 'strong arm' effort to try to force a settlement by threatening to ruin our reputations and businesses which we have built for over 50 years," Wilpon and Katz wrote.
"The conclusions in the complaint are not supported by the facts. While they may make for good headlines, they are abusive, unfair and untrue. We categorically reject them."
Talks to settle the lawsuit reportedly collapsed yesterday after the two sides argued over confidential information that was leaked from the formerly sealed lawsuit.
The scandal has forced Wilpon and Katz to seek "strategic partners" to buy a portion of their ball club "specifically because of the uncertainty created by the lawsuit filed by the Trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy," the two said in a statement.
