Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Mets-Madoff connection is painful to read about:
Ouch. Of course, as with any court procedure this story is surfacing for a reason, but it certainly paints Katz and Wilpon in a light that strongly hints at scienter. And how delightful that these were the dollars that are (still) paying Bobby Bonilla.
Katz and Wilpon, according to the trustee, structured player contracts to draw out the timing of their payments. They would then invest the money they owed the players with Madoff and make a profit across the many years of the contract payments. That, too, was the vig.
The men, real estate moguls, also invested the excess proceeds from mortgages they refinanced with Madoff’s brokerage operation on the belief that his returns would be greater than their mortgage payments. That was the vig.
Finally, instead of paying disability insurance premiums for key players on the team, the trustee says, Katz and Wilpon put the money into an account — called “Saul’s cookie jar” — to pay injured players. That, as well, was the vig.
Ouch. Of course, as with any court procedure this story is surfacing for a reason, but it certainly paints Katz and Wilpon in a light that strongly hints at scienter. And how delightful that these were the dollars that are (still) paying Bobby Bonilla.
// posted by Bill @ 10:29 AM 
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