Mets settle Madoff suit, repay 2 loans
NEW YORK -- The New York Mets' owners scored an early season victory Monday, stabilizing the club's financial future in a deal with a trustee for Bernard Madoff's fraud victims that requires them to pay millions less than they might have -- and lifts a dark cloud from a
team whose dismal play seemed to mirror its misfortune in the owners box.
Mets CEO Fred Wilpon and team president Saul Katz, co-majority owners,
emerged smiling from a Manhattan federal courthouse after a judge announced the
agreement, which makes it likely they'll pay much less than the agreed-upon $162
million, if any at all; guarantees they will owe nothing until the end of four
years; and averts a high-profile civil trial.
"Now I guess I can smile, maybe I can take a day off, but I can't wait to get
back to our businesses, which I love," Wilpon, sporting dark sunglasses, said
outside court as he pledged to rejoin the Mets on Tuesday at spring training in
Florida. He stood with Katz, who rested his hand on Wilpon's shoulder under a
sunny sky.
story: http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7708498/new-york-mets-settle-madoff-trustee-162-million
