Mets settle Madoff case for … how much?

From Comcast SportsNet
NEW YORK (AP) -- The owners of the New York Mets baseball team and a trustee for Bernard Madoff's fraud victims settled Monday for 162 million in a case aimed at repairing the damage from a massive investment scheme.The Mets owners will not pay anything for three years.Jury selection had been set to begin in a civil trial to determine how much the team owners will owe other investors who trusted their money to Madoff, who cheated thousands of investors of roughly 20 billion over at least two decadesTrustee Irving Picard had argued the team owners knew that Madoff's corrupt investment scheme was a fraud but continued their investments anyway because they were making a lot of money. Lawyers for the owners insist their clients had no idea the investments were a sham.Both Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, principal Mets owners, were in court Monday at the defense table.Judge Jed Rakoff said Picard had reviewed the evidence and will no longer pursue a claim of "willful blindness" against the defendants.The judge already had ruled the team's owners must pay up to 83.3 million in profits they received from Madoff.But another ruling blocked Picard from trying to collect the full 1 billion he sought to recoup. He has filed hundreds of lawsuits to force those who profited from their investment to pay into a fund for Madoff's victims.The case has damaged the Mets' financial picture, forcing the team to slash payroll and try to raise tens of millions of dollars by selling small chunks of the team.Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax had been scheduled to testify in the trial about Wilpon's intentions. Koufax invested in Madoff's private investment business at Wilpon's recommendation.