Trustee In Madoff Case Files Response To Mets Owners' Motion To Dismiss

The trustee suing Mets Owner Fred Wilpon and his family for $386M on behalf of victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme filed court papers Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff to "deny a defense request to have the case tossed," according to Adam Rubin of ESPN N.Y. The Wilpons' attorneys "also filed papers, which asked that the judge reject trustee Irving Picard's motion to award $83.3 million to him even before the case is scheduled to go to trial March 19." The Wilpon family, its businesses and charities "are viewed by the trustee as net winners in the Ponzi scheme -- meaning they allegedly withdrew more money than they deposited in Madoff accounts." However, the Wilpons argue that they are "losers because they believed $500 million was invested with Madoff when he was arrested -- money that now does not exist" (ESPNNY.com, 2/9). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Kaja Whitehouse notes Wilpon, through his company Sterling Equities, filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court "in a bid to recover money the firm says it lost" to Madoff. Sterling is arguing that a federal appeals court "erred in August when it ruled that the Mets owners were beneficiaries, or 'net winners,' in Madoff’s $65 billion scheme." The appeal is "separate from the upcoming March trial" (N.Y. POST, 2/10).

SEVERE DROP IN PAYROLL: ESPN's Buster Olney reported the Mets will begin the '11 season with an $87.5M payroll, down from $142.8M in '11, and the decline is the “greatest in baseball history.” The bulk of that money is devoted to P Johan Santana, OF Jason Bay and 3B David Wright, who account for $57.5M, or 65%, of the payroll. Olney said, “Right after the Winter Meetings (I was) talking with someone in the Mets organization and asking about free agents. He said, ‘We don’t have any money.’ I thought he was exaggerating.” ESPN’s Jayson Stark said, “Their debts are mounting. There are a lot of people who wonder how much longer Fred Wilpon will hold onto this team.” ESPN’s Karl Ravech asked, “Why do we keep hearing about the Dodgers sale and not a Mets sale?” Stark: “The Dodgers sale is in progress. The Mets debt is hovering.” Olney said there is a “lot of concern that that debt will eventually collapse the Wilpons ownership of this team and eventually baseball, as we’ve seen in situations with the Dodgers and Texas, that they had to get involved” (“Baseball Tonight,” ESPN, 2/9).

RUNNING ON EMPTY? In N.Y., Andrew Keh noted Mets GM Sandy Alderson "displayed his sense of humor Thursday when he posted a pair of well-crafted jibes on his Twitter account satirizing the growing hoopla around the organization’s shaky finances." At 3:28pm ET, Alderson sent out his first tweet: "Getting ready for Spring Training-Driving to FL but haven’t left yet. Big fundraiser tonight for gas money. Also exploring PAC contribution.” Alderson said that he had been "amused to see another innocuous factoid -- his revelation that he would be driving to Florida for spring training -- joked about, dissected and in some cases seriously analyzed by some on Twitter and on blogs as a reflection of the Mets’ finances" (NYTIMES.com, 2/9).