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Their Amazin’ money grubbing extended right into their living rooms.
Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz recruited family members to invest with scammer Bernie Madoff — and then used some of their wives’ megamillions to help pay off business bills, court papers show.
Iris Katz earned $35 million in profit from six Madoff accounts since December 1986, while Judy Wilpon took in nearly $25 million from her six accounts over the same time, documents said.
The spousal fortune is more than most Mets players make — and Judy Wilpon’s windfall nearly matches what superstar David Wright made during his whole career with the team, according to online source Baseball-Reference.
The lawsuit filed against the Mets co-owners by Irving Picard, trustee for Madoff’s victims, alleges that Wilpon, Katz and their colleagues at Sterling Partners freely dipped into their wives accounts as if they were their own.
They “counted the purported equity in their wives’ accounts toward their own total net worth, and also used funds withdrawn from their wives’ accounts to meet their personal and/or business financial obligations,” the documents said.
The suit reveals an astounding accounting of big bucks made by the moguls’ relatives off Madoff investments.
For example, the Katzes and at least three of their four kids earned $40 million from some 30 accounts with Madoff, the lawsuit says. Fred and Judy Wilpon earned $30 million from their 24 Madoff accounts, say the papers.
And both clans — and their trusts and related entities — allegedly used $300 million in profits from Madoff investments as equity to get hundreds of millions more in loans and lines of credit.
Their wealth brought the families huge prestige, a cushy lifestyle and in the case of Iris Katz, her name on a prestigious hospital building under construction — the Long Island Jewish Medical Center’s Katz Women’s Hospital in Queens.
Despite humble beginnings, the clans now enjoy digs to die for.
The Katzes live in a ritzy home overlooking Long Island Sound in Glen Cove, and vacation at a home in Boca Raton, Fla., in a “nice but understated community,” one friend said. The Wilpons — Fred and sister Iris, who would grow up to marry Katz — grew up in working-class Brooklyn, but he now lives in leafy Locust Valley, LI.
Their kids also reaped Madoff profits.
One of Saul Katz’s daughters, Heather Katz Knopf, cleaned up almost as well as her mom, amassing $33 million since 1986, and taking $2 million in withdrawals, the suit said. Another daughter, Natalie Katz O’Brien, made $29 million off 46 accounts since 1989.
The Wilpon’s daughter, Robin Wilpon Wachtler, took in $28 million from 43 accounts since 1988, the court papers said.
The Mets co-owners were such loyal Madoff customers that in November 2005, when Madoff was having “liquidity problems,” he offered the partners a new “special investment opportunity” — although they would have to pump in new money. The partners immediately wired $22 million, the lawsuit said.
Wilpon and Katz have vehemently denied any knowledge of Madoff’s illegal scam.
Plenty to go around
Mets co-owners and their families reaped millions from Bernie Madoff’s schemes:
Fred Wilpon
Sterling Equities co-founder; Mets co-owner
Earnings: $52.8M from 57 Madoff accounts
Judith Wilpon
Fred’s wife
Earnings: $24.7M from six Madoff accounts
Iris Katz
Saul’s wife
Earnings: $35M from six Madoff accounts
Saul Katz
Sterling Equities co-founder; Mets co-owner
Earnings: $45M from 68 Madoff accounts
Jeff Wilpon
Fred and Judith’s son, Sterling exec VP, Mets COO
Earnings: $37M from 62 Madoff accounts
Richard Wilpon
Fred’s brother, Sterling Equities partner, Mets board member
Earnings: $23.1M from 60 Madoff accounts
Michael Katz
Saul’s brother, Sterling Equities partner, Mets board member
Earnings: $19.1M from 59 Madoff accounts
Heather Katz Knopf
Saul and Iris’ daughter
Earnings: $33M from 44 Madoff accounts
Additional reporting by Maureen Callahan