New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon predicted his family “will be vindicated” from a claim they had prior knowledge of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, The Associated Press reports.
Speaking Thursday at the Mets spring training camp in Port Lucie, Fla., Wilpon said he was naive to invest with Madoff, a longtime friend and neighbor on Long Island.
Irving H. Picard, the trustee trying to recover money for victims of the swindle, sued Wilpon, brother-in-law and team President Saul Katz and various family members and entities related to Sterling Equities, seeking at least $300 million. Picard claimed they were net winners with their Madoff investments and ignored warnings that Madoff’s high returns might be false.
The Wilpons have said they are victims in the scheme.
“We did not know one iota, one thing, of Madoff’s fraud,” Wilpon said as the Mets started spring training workouts. “We didn’t do anything wrong. If anything we trusted a fiend for a very long time, and as I told you a few months ago, that betrayal was very difficult for me. This was a man who we were friends for 35 years and investors for 25 years. Having said that, we will be vindicated.”
Wilpon said that to him, vindication means “everybody will know we had nothing to do with it.”
“We never benefited any other way than any other victim,” Wilpon said.
“We got the same kind of returns. We never got any special returns. It was over a long period of time. We lost over half a billion dollars when he went under, cash money. I personally put in money within three weeks of him going under. I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t risk my family’s money if I thought he was doing anything wrong.”
Fred and Jeff Wilpon, the owner’s son and the team’s chief operating officer, announced Jan. 28 they were exploring selling up to 25 percent of the franchise because of “uncertainty” caused by the lawsuit. When asked why, if he is innocent, he would see a need to sell a share of the team, Fred Wilpon said it is the “prudent thing to do.”
