Major League Baseball loaned the Mets more than $20 million in November in a bid to shore up the cash-strapped team, sources told The Post.
“We did receive a loan from Major League Baseball in November,” the Mets said in a statement. “Beyond that, we will not discuss the matter any further.”
The team’s principal owner, Fred Wilpon, and his partners are scrambling to line up an investor to purchase as much as 25 percent of the team in the wake of a lawsuit brought by the bankruptcy trustee charged with clawing back billions for victims of Bernie Madoff.
The trustee, Irving Picard, has sued the team for as much as $1 billion, alleging Wilpon and his partners knew — or should have known — about Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.
Fred Wilpon and his son Jeff have insisted they will maintain majority ownership of the Mets despite the suit, although a financial adviser to the team recently said they would consider selling a bigger stake.
The November loan from the MLB suggests the team was experiencing a cash crunch before Picard’s suit against them became public.