MANHATTAN — The owners of the New York Mets have reportedly reached a $162 million settlement with the trustee tasked with recouping funds for investors defrauded by Bernard Madoff.
A lawsuit brought by the trustee for Madoff's victims, Irving Picard, originally sought $1 billion from the owners of the baseball franchise, including Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and the holding company Sterling Equities, who had invested in Madoff’s firm.
That enormous sum was later whittled down to $303 million. The ultimate $162 million settlement now brings an end to the case, which was set to begin jury selection on Monday.
"We believe that this is a fair and just settlement," David Sheehan, the lead counsel at Picard's firm, Baker & Hostetler, told CNN.
The lawsuit centered on Picard’s claim that the owners of the Mets had profited from Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme and allegedly ignored repeated warnings that Madoff was a fraud.
The Mets’ owners repeatedly denied those allegations and, as part of the settlement, Picard has dropped the so-called “willful blindness” claim.
In his role as trustee, Picard has reportedly recouped about half of the $17.3 billion people lost after investing with Madoff, who is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence.
