The owners of the Mets may be losers on the field, but they just scored a major victory in their epic battle against the trustee tasked with cleaning up Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Today, the Mets averted a two-week trial that could have cost them more than $300 million — not to mention a season’s worth of embarrassment as minute details of their personal investing history were laid bare before the public — after coming to a $162 million settlement with Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee.
The settlement doesn’t require cash-strapped Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to put up any cash for three years, and potentially none at all.
That greatly enhances their chances of maintaining control over the Mets.
Also, as a condition of the settlement, Picard, who up until now has been going hard after the Mets owners for “turning a blind eye” to Madoff’s massive scheme, said he is dropping those damning allegations.
With that key allegation dropped, Wilpon and Katz feel they can begin to repair their reputations.
“We were not willfully blind, and we are very pleased that the settlement bears that out,” Wilpon told reporters while leaving Manhattan federal court after the stunning turn of events.
“So I can smile and maybe I can take a day off,” he added.
Wilpon also had a message for Mets fans.
“Stick with us. We’ll be there. We have done it before twice,” he said.
Certainly, the settlement is a blow to the reputation of the trustee, who initially sought $1 billion from the Mets owners and their investment arm, Sterling Equities.
Picard’s $1 billion suit was whittled to $386 million. The judge recently granted him up to $83 million for phantom profits the Mets owners collected in the two years leading up to Madoff’s arrest, but Picard had to prove willful blindness to get the rest of the money.
The $162 million will be paid for by claims Sterling Equities made against the Madoff estate. Had Picard won his willful-blindness lawsuit against them, those claims would have been out of reach.
The Mets owners have claims worth $178 million. As the trustee makes payments to victims of Madoff’s fraud, their $162 million settlement bill will be paid down by their portion of the claim money.
If Picard is successful in collecting monies due the Madoff estate and pays out anything more than 91 cents on the dollar, then Wilpon and Katz will not have to pay back a dime of the settlement cash; they may even make money.
Ironically, Wilpon is now hoping Picard is 100 percent successful in future court cases.
If the settlement bill isn’t paid off after three years, the Mets owners will be required to make two annual payments for the difference. If the settlement is paid off and there is claim money left over, it goes to the Mets owners.
Judge Jed Rakoff, who was overseeing the contentious case, applauded the resolution, which was reached late Friday.
“Although this is something of an anti-climax … I am grateful to all concerned,” he said.
Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who acted as arbitrator, said Picard wins by avoiding “a long trial. A long and expensive trial. A long, expensive and bitter trial.”
kwhitehouse@nypost.com