Mets co-owner Saul Katz couldn’t keep his mouth shut — and it annoyed Bernie Madoff.
“Saul Katz told his ‘country club friends’ that ‘nobody knows how Madoff does it,’ ” Madoff complained in a 2004 phone call to one of Katz’s business associates, Arthur Friedman, vice president of Sterling Equities.
The call is revealed in a lawsuit filed by the federal trustee seeking to claw back the billions Madoff stole. Katz’s blathering likely irritated Madoff because his epic Ponzi scheme depended on an air of mystery and intrigue to ward off regulators and lure customers.
Katz and Mets partner Fred Wilpon were picky: Anyone who wanted to invest with Madoff had to be screened.
“Saul Katz, in particular, had the final say,” says the lawsuit — claiming that Katz “carefully” screened out “certain types of sophisticated investors” who might have blown the whistle.