A federal judge said the owners of the Mets must show a jury next week they weren’t willfully blind to a gigantic fraud carried out by their friend Bernie Madoff.
Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said in a two-page order released this afternoon that the burden will rest with the owners rather than a trustee recovering money on behalf of thousands of cheated Madoff investors.
A trial is set to begin Monday in Manhattan federal court on a lawsuit seeking $1 billion from the Mets.
The trustee says the Mets owners knew or should have known that Madoff was operating his multi-billion-dollar fraud. He is serving 150 years behind bars.
Rakoff earlier ruled the Mets owners owe up to $83 million. He has limited the amount the trustee can recover at trial to just over $300 million.
Earlier this week, the Mets promised to call Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax to testify on their behalf.
The prospect of Koufax taking the stand during the jury trial drew howls of protest from Madoff trustee Irving Picard, who is suing the cash-strapped Mets’ owners for up to $303 million.
Picard claims the move by Wilpon is a blatant attempt to sway the jury.
Picard is looking to “claw back” the $303 million in principal Wilpon and Katz withdrew from Madoff’s funds. To do so, Picard has to prove the business partners knew Madoff’s funds, which threw off consistently high rates of return no matter what economic forces blew itheir way, were too good to be true.
With AP