New York Mets

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Suit blames Mets owners for Madoff-related losses
Lawsuit blames NY Mets owners for letting workers put retirement money in Madoff investments


Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer, On Friday July 30, 2010, 11:44 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- The owners of the New York Mets should be held accountable for letting their workers put more than $16 million in 401(k) assets into accounts controlled by jailed financier Bernard Madoff, a widow said in a lawsuit filed Friday.

The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan was brought against Sterling Equities Associates, which owns the Mets, and also named Fred Wilpon, the Mets chief executive officer and principle owner.

Sterling Equities and several of its top executives should have known that Madoff was carrying out a massive Ponzi scheme that cost thousands of investors billions of dollars, the lawsuit said. Madoff, 72, revealed the fraud in December 2008, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

Sterling said in a statement Friday that the complaint has no merit, adding that its 401(k) plan and participants in the plan "were among the many victims of the Madoff fraud."

Sterling said the 401(k) plan filed a claim for its losses with the Securities Investors Protection Corp. or SIPC, which is authorized by Congress to guarantee brokerage accounts for a maximum $500,000, and assisted 401(k) participants with filing individual claims.

The court-appointed trustee who is recovering Madoff money for investors has said the Mets profited by nearly $48 million from their roughly $523 million in investments with Madoff.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, said its plaintiff, Elyse S. Goldweber, was the beneficiary of the 401(k) plan built by her late husband, David A. Sloss. It said the majority of $280,420 in her husband's retirement plan was directly invested with Madoff "and has now been wiped out."

A statement sent March 31 said that she should not rely on the stated balance in the retirement account "in light of the reported theft by Madoff," the lawsuit said. The actual account balance cannot be determined, the lawsuit quoted the statement as saying.

The retirement fund had $16.2 million of its $17.6 million in assets, or 92 percent, invested with Madoff, the lawsuit said. It did not say how many employees or former employees were affected.

The lawsuit particularly took aim at statements by Wilpon that he and his business were not seriously harmed by the Madoff scandal.

"While defendant Wilpon has been quoted as claiming that he and his business family are `fine,' his loyal employees (many of whom had previously been laid off) have lost their retirement savings," the lawsuit said. It added that an insurance policy does not come close to covering the losses.

"As a result of their massive exposure to Madoff, plaintiff and other class members have lost the majority of their retirement savings," the lawsuit said.

Investigators who are still trying to identify and collect Madoff assets for investors say the financier lost nearly all of the $20 billion invested with him even though he claimed in statements mailed to 4,800 account holders in 2008 that their investments were worth $68 billion.

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Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez was placed today on the team's restricted list, meaning that he could get a minimum two-game ban without pay, after he was busted for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend's father in the Citi Field family room near the clubhouse, officials said.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/teammates_defend_rod_day_after_getting_s21N6VRjbV4XoRTfVILZ4L#ixzz0wQRUoSxB

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Rodriguez ain't the only Met in trouble right now:

Woman who claims Mets' Santana raped her files lawsuit
Scott Boeck, New York Daily News, August 11 2010

A Florida woman who accused New York Mets ace Johan Santana of rape last year has filed a civil
suit after authorities declined to prosecute the case.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Lee County, FL, accuses Santana of sexually assaulting her in October
2009 on a Fort Myers golf course.

"I had thought I was going to play tennis with a man who up to that point had been nothing but
friendly to me and my kids," said the woman, who identifies herself as a 35-year-old single mother of
two. "After 10 months of emotional turmoil from the assault, losing the baby and watching him go
unprosecuted, I have realized this difficult step is the only way Mr. Santana will be held accountable."

The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $15,000.

Santana, who claimed the sex was consensual, said after Tuesday's game: "It's still the same, I
won't comment. It's a legal matter. The truth will come out. I'm just gonna wait and see but I can't
give any further comment at this time."

Attorneys for the women filed the lawsuit after investigators decided not to pursue the criminal
case and because his client thought Santana was not taking it seriously.