A federal judge said Thursday that he will soon decide whether the clawback lawsuit by the trustee Irving Picard against Mets owners will go to trial.
“I’ll have a bottom line ruling by no later than March 5 determining what goes to trial,” U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said.
Judge Rakoff deferred his decision after hearing arguments by both sides. He also tossed out the trustee’s two expert witnesses as well as the Mets’ sole expert witness.
The trial is scheduled to begin on March 19 with the jury selection process, unless of course Judge Rakoff rules favorably on the Mets’ motion for summary judgement to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Meanwhile, the trustee seeks summary judgment to recover the $83 million in alleged fictitious profits before the trial starts.
There was something Richard Sandomir in his report for the New York Times that caught my attention. It was regarding the deposition testimony given by former Sterling employee, Noreen Harrington. You may remember she was tabbed as “the whistle-blower” by Howard Megdal recently.
Harrington testified that when she asked to meet with Madoff, Katz said no. She did not follow up on her request and left Sterling Stamos soon after. “It’s hard to see that the failure to give her that meeting can be taken as evidence of willful blindness,” Rakoff said.
This was the slam dunk witness that the verdict in this case was going to turn on?
I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been tuned into this story from day one and I’ve found Rich Sandomir to the only journalist who has consistently reported on this entire saga both accurately and objectively. That’s the way I prefer my news, and I give Rich high marks for giving the reader enough information to form their own opinion without bias.
You wouldn’t see that quote referenced by some of the less objective journalists who like to put themselves ahead of the story while distancing their readers more and more from knowing all the facts. If you want to cover this story I believe it should be covered fairly for both sides’ sake. Both the victims who the trustee represents and the owners of the Mets deserve the right to choose a jury from a public that hasn’t been tainted by the stigma of hidden agendas, book sales, t-shirt sales and other sordid propaganda.
Too many have already written the end to this passion play even before the tribunal begins… If it begins at all and doesn’t get tossed out next week.
My hope is that justice will ultimately prevail in this matter. But I fear that those with self-serving interests will do all they can to keep justice from being served. And that’s a real shame.
