By Olivia Scheck
Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A panel of federal judges wasn't buying arguments made by the Mets legal team Thursday in their dispute with the other victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, according to published reports.
Irving Picard, a trustee for the victims, has filed suit against the Mets owners, demanding that they return $300 million in allegedly fake profits paid to them by Madoff's firm.
In court on Thursday, lawyers for the baseball magnates argued that they are entitled by law to the money reflected in their statements when the fraud was uncovered in 2009, the Associated Press reported.
But the three-member panel disagreed, with one of them calling the returns "figments of the imagination," according to AP.
Another judge reportedly described the statements as reflecting "whatever amount Madoff made up while chewing on his pencil and looking at the ceiling."
The Mets are currently in dire financial straights, recently requesting tens of millions in loans so that they could cover basic expenses.
