The trustee for the victims of the Bernie Madoff scandal, Irving Picard, officially amended his lawsuit of the Wilpon family in order to attempt to recover over $1 Billion from the Wilpons saying they profited from the losses of Madoff's victims. This latest sum is more than $700 Million more than the $300 million Picard was originally seeking. Picard contends that the Wilpons and Madoff were "too cozy" and that the Wilpons' business ventures in fact relied upon false profits withdrawn from Madoff's machinations from 2002-2008.
When the lawsuit first surfaced the Wilpons announced that they were willing to sell 20-25% of the team in order to pay for any losses they might incur. This sent the message that the Wilpon family is likely to settle for a huge sum of money which would compromise their ability to run the Mets franchise. With Picard now seeking more than $1 Billion the Wilpons will likely have to settle for a much higher sum than they originally planned.
The Wilpons have reiterated that they will not relinquish a controlling share of the team however that stance may be in jeopardy. Fred and Jeff Wilpon have to continue to assure the media that they were also victims of Madoff's and the entire premise of the lawsuit is false. Unfortunately they have a history of present an "everything is perfectly fine" message to Mets fans regardless of the actual state of the team. I think the Wilpons are going to get taken to the cleaners by this lawsuit and all of a sudden 100% of the Mets will be available for sale before we know it.
As a Mets fan I feel bad for the Wilpon family as they are likely to never be the same after this suit is all said and done but at the same time it would be refreshing for new ownership to take control of the team. Lots of high profile candidates have come forward indicating their interest in buying the team headlined by Donald Trump. A sale of the Mets might be what is required to turn around their historically poor fortunes.
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