Mets Owners Settle Willful Blindness Case

Just as jury selection was about to begin, the New York Mets owners have opted to settle the $303 million lawsuit against them.  While the article is a bit unclear, I believe the settlement amount of $162 million is in addition to the $83 million in fictitious profits that the Mets owners already had to return per a ruling by Judge Rakoff.  

Madoff's Dealings with the Mets: Lookin' Shady to Me

The New York Mets have made the news recently but, unfortunately for them, it's not because their spring season is boding well for the rest of the season. Instead, the Mets are finding serious opposition is coming from the trustee in the Madoff case, Irving Picard, who is suing the Mets' owners, the Wilpon and Katz families, for $1 billion.

As it turns out, the Mets may have thought their biggest rivals were  the Yankees or the Phillies, but this year, they may start wondering if Picard is working for one of their rivals. Picard's amended case is 381 pages long and is likely to be a bigger challenge to the organization than any of those teams can muster. From what I can tell, the most potentially damning allegation in the case is Picard's contention that the Mets' owners knew Madoff was accustomed to doing shady business and that he transacted some such business with the owners. Here are some details that may pose a challenge to the owners as stated in a recent NY Times article on the matter: