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Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, owners of the New York Mets, have settled a suit brought against them by Madoff victim trustee Irving Picard for $162 million.
The suit first alleged that Wilpon and Katz were "willfully blind" to the fact that Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi schemer who reportedly made the two men millions of dollars in profits, was ripping off other investors. That allegation was dropped, but Wilpon and Katz have agreed to pay the false profits back to Irving Picard, the trustee responsible for seeking restitution for Madoff's victims. Wilpon and Katz have already promised to pay $29 million out of their own pockets.
However, the owners' outlook might be better than it appears. They are petitioning Picard's firm for their own Madoff-related losses totalling $178 million. All of that money could be applied to the settlement, which means Wilpon and Katz will likely wind up paying far less than the full settlement amount. They are not obligated to make any payments for the next 3 years.