The Mets "expect to sell 10 minority shares of the team by the end of February," according to a source cited by Steven Marcus of NEWSDAY. The units, "priced at $20 million each, would raise $200 million for the cash-strapped franchise and be used to pay existing loans and operating expenses for 2012." It previously was "believed that the Mets would close on a minimum of four units by the end of January." The team yesterday had "no comment on when the new investors will be in place" (NEWSDAY, 1/31).
LEGAL DISPUTE: On Long Island, Anthony Destefano cited court filings as indicating that Irving Picard, the trustee for the victims of Bernie Madoff, "wants a federal judge to order the owners of the Mets to fork over $83 million in fictitious profits received in the giant Ponzi scheme without having to wait for a scheduled March trial." Picard said that because his investigation has "shown that the Sterling partners received the $83 million, they should be made to pay it back under federal bankruptcy law" (NEWSDAY, 1/27). In N.Y., Kaja Whitehouse noted Mets Owners the Wilpons, who have been "cutting payroll and owe $65 million in short-term loans, have asked a federal judge to dismiss the $386 million Bernie Madoff-related lawsuit." The owners said in court papers that Picard, who "filed the suit, has not yet proven his case so it deserves to be dumped in the trash" (N.Y. POST, 1/28).
