Looks like the Wilpon family is in even more trouble.
The trustee who is seeking to recover money to distribute to victims of Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme plans to go after more funds tied to the owners of the Mets, according to a new report.
In an amended lawsuit, a source told ESPN.com that trustee Irving Picard — who is already seeking $1 billion from Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon and his family to redistribute to Madoff victims — plans to go after a foundation the family runs.
The original suit was filed Dec. 7 and was unsealed last month.
US Bankruptcy Judge Burton R. Lifland recently granted Picard until this Friday to amend the lawsuit.
ESPN.com reported that Picard is expected to “add charitable funds operated by the Wilpons in the revised lawsuit.”
Those funds, connected to the Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, also had alleged “fictitious profits” (more money withdrawn than invested), according to the report.
Tax returns from 2008 obtained by the website show conflicting information, with a Wilpon foundation claiming a loss and also showing a profit stemming from Madoff investments.
Earlier this month, both sides squared off last week in front of three judges at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, which reserved decision and did not say when a ruling was likely.
Any distribution of funds would also be reduced by the nearly $700 million that Picard said was already advanced by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. to victims whose claims he has approved.
During a conference call with reporters last week, Picard said he wouldn’t seek to distribute any of the $7.2 billion that the widow of investor Jeffry Picower last year agreed to voluntarily return to Madoff’s victims.
Picard said those funds were currently “not available” due to separate appeals by investors challenging his net-equity decision.
David Sheehan, a lawyer working with Picard, said their team plans to file papers seeking court permission to start paying back Madoff’s victims later this month.
A hearing on the plan will likely be held in Manhattan Bankruptcy Court sometime in April, Sheehan said.
Picard said he had filed more than 1,000 lawsuits around the world seeking to recover about $100 billion from sophisticated investors and institutions that allegedly enabled Madoff’s scam.
He also noted that he had forgone filing “clawback” suits against more than 200 Madoff customers who demonstrated that paying back their phony profits would create an undue hardship.
With AP