New ruling may cost NY Mets $300 million said to be money they withdrew in excess of what they invested-Bloomberg

A ruling Tuesday could cost the Mets $300 million in what is said to be money they withdrew that didn't technically exist. Another figure of $700 million is yet to be decided, that amount sought as punishment for the fact that 'the Mets should have known.'

• 8/16/11, "Madoff Trustee Wins Appeals Court Ruling on Calculating Investors’ Losses," Bloomberg, Bob Van Voris and Linda Sandler

"The trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s former firm won an appeals court ruling that affirmed his method of determining which investors can recover money lost in the Ponzi scheme.

The federal appeals court in New York said today that trustee Irving Picard can calculate losses by subtracting the amount withdrawn from an investor’s account from the total placed with Madoff, the so-called net investment method....

Madoff investors who removed more from their accounts than they invested, including the owners of the New York Mets baseball team, stand to lose from today’s ruling. Picard has claimed $300 million in fictitious profits from a group of defendants tied to Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. He is also seeking $700 million in principal from Wilpon and Katz, claiming

• they should have known Madoff was running a fraud.

The Mets owners are seeking to have Picard’s suit dismissed.

Karen Wagner, a lawyer for Wilpon and Katz, didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment on the ruling....

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8/16/11, "Madoff Decision Is Significant Setback for Owners of Mets," NY Times, Richard Sandomir and Ken Belson

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