21
2011
Trustee Irving Picard Drops Damages Claim Against Wilpons
An article by 
After almost a year of denying any wrong doing in the Bernie Madoff Ponzie scheme, the Wilpons may now be off the hook as news has broken that the trustee, Irving Picard, has dropped the damages claim.
The Post writes:
Seven months after kicking off an aggressive campaign to collect $80 billion in damages from firms associated with Bernie Madoff, the trustee liquidating the Ponzi scammer’s firm is beating a hasty retreat.
Irving Picard, after running into howls of protest from the banks and other firms he claimed should have known about Madoff’s scam — and therefore are liable for damages on top of repaying phony profits, told a federal judge overseeing a protest suit filed by one of the banks, UBS, this week that he will drop the damages claim.
The decision marks a significant setback for Picard and potentially Madoff victims. By being forced to back away from his damages claim, Picard might be blocked from pursuing tens of billions of dollars in assets that would ultimately be distributed to Madoff victims.
This is kind of a shock considering how often Picard made it look like he had a convincing, open and shut case. The decision not to pursue over $2 billion dollars in damages, will affect all the claims filed against Madoff-related firms including Sterling Equities who Picard sought roughly $1 billion from. The Wilpons and Saul Katz have always vehemently denied those charges.
Picard made the decision to retreat from his damages claims after he was told “none of his claims would hold water in bankruptcy court.”
His entire case was built on the premise that “they should have known” with no evidence to support that claim. On it’s own, it was just words.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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Thats great! So that means the Mets will now have money?!
I totally agree Jessep, they were unfaily targeted from the get go. I still don’t understand How Picard really thought that a “you should have known” argument would hold up anywhere.
If they are only on the hook for 300 million, the payroll may go down a bit, but probably not as much as we once thought.
Look as a Mets fan you can dislike the Wilpon’s. But I truly believe they were targeted unfairly here and I’m glad its over for them
This.
The more money Picard ‘reclaimed’ in his clawback suits, the more money he and his firm made.
Technically, no. The firm was being paid out of a trust set up by the SEC and they would make no money out f the final settlement.
The longer the case went, they more they would get paid. Plus, it seems like Picard was doing a Spitzer-esque witch hunt to take down some big names so he could make a run in politics.
As all of Mr Picard’s claims are being reversed on him, since they are a bigger scam the Madoff, it is only just that he and his firm return or are clawed back for all the hours and money they billed and received on fictitious claims.
In addition, since his fictitious formula will be reversed as well, Picard and his firm should be held responsible for awards and damages for all the lives they ruined among the elderly that they denied their claims and declared them net winners. It is not only abuse of power and the system but it may have contributed to the earlier demise of some of the elderly and consequences for Picard should be accordingly applied.
Attorney’s fees to date on this lawsuit should be paid for out of the money Picards law firm has made in this case considering how he has now backed off of the allegations he vociferously made against the Wilpon.
Big hat, no cattle.
Maybe Judge Jed Rakoff will rule as you’re suggesting. He never bought into Picard’s suit.
An opinion in the wsj about 3 months ago laid it out. Picard appeared more like an out of control prosecutor. Bottom line was this, if the SEC didn’t know , why should have the Wilpons have known. Do you not now think that the einhorn deal ilooks good now from the Wilpons point of view.
Yeah but beyond the Madoff mess. the Mets were still bleeding money so they needed Einhorn’s cash infusion. The Wilpons still have a losing franchise , financially and on the field.
And Lou…Whose fault is it that the team is losing money?
Bernie Madoff?
Irving Picard?
Fred Wilpon?
Or all of us who decided not to go see them play?
I guess the move from bankruptcy court to US District Court caused Picard to reconsider since the rules are a lot looser in Bankruptcy Court.
Good deal for the Wilpon’s, it certainly seemed unfair that they should have known when no one else did, including the SEC.
Hopefully with the new administration in charge decisions will be made with more probable results guiding the process instead of just what looks good in January in order to sell tickets.
Now sign Reyes, sign Nimmo and the rest of the draft class, get to work on signing the highest ceiling IFA’s and sign the absolute best development people so their ready to win when they get up here.
Great news for the Mets and for the Wilpons clan. Judge Jed Rakoff moved the case against the Mets’ owners from bankruptcy court.
Rakoff had the financial fate of the Wilpons before him. Recently, he pulled the billion-dollar lawsuit against the team’s owners brought by the trustee for victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme out of bankruptcy court and into his own. Rakoff could dismiss all or part of the case.
During a hearing, one that was consumed by debate about the merits of the trustee’s efforts to get hundreds of millions from the team’s owners, Rakoff expressed skepticism about the trustee’s approach. He suggested that in accusing the owners of being “willfully blind” to the possibility that Madoff was a fraud during their many years of investing with him, the trustee might be holding them to an unfair standard. In fact, determining that, Rakoff said, could invite even larger issues.
Lawyers for the Wilpons have accused Picard of trying to strong-arm them into a massive settlement. The lawyers argue that securities law, not bankruptcy law, applies to Wilpon and Katz. Under securities law, they argue, the men were no different than any other investors — not at all obligated to mount their own investigation of their private broker.
(Snippets taken from a NY Times article)
It would be improbable that Picard wasn’t influenced by Judge Jed Rakoff.
please let this mean all that cash can go to jose reyes instead.
You mean all that cash will now go to Wilpon’s lawyers. You think they were working for chopped liver-oy vey!
The Wilpons should now turn the tables on these government lawyer thugs and sue Picard. Our government is totally out of control. If you were stupid enough to invest with Madoff then you “Man Up” and get on with your life. Don’t be a crybaby and want your money back-you gambled and lost-FINEE!
There is no God. No force on earth or in heaven can make the Wontpons release their clawlike hold on the mets’ fortunes.
Sorry JDon your going to have to come up with a different scheme to get rid of them…
I ont know if I should be happy or what. I was kind of hoping this would eventually lead to them selling the team, all of it.
One thing I learned from watching Judge Judy is you can’t make a claim that somebody should have known something. You have no way of proving that!! The WIlpons may not be the greatest owners, but in this matter they were victims.