Bernie Madoff is dead

 

CNBC

 Bernard Madoff, mastermind of the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history, ripping off tens of thousands of clients of as much as $65 billion, died Wednesday. He was 82.

His death at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, was confirmed by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Madoff died apparently from natural causes, the AP reported earlier, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter. He would have turned 83 on April 29.

Madoff was serving a 150-year sentence at the prison, where he had been treated for what his attorney called terminal kidney disease. His request for compassionate release from prison was denied in June.

 He pleaded guilty in 2009 to a scheme that investigators said started in the early 1970s and defrauded more than 40,000 people in 125 countries over four decades by the time Madoff was busted on Dec. 11, 2008 — after his two sons turned him in. Victims included the famous — director Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon, former New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel — and ordinary investors, like Burt Ross, who lost $5 million in the scheme.

Wilpons thought casino idea was a home run

(Click on image to enlarge) Photo By Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates

From the NY Post:

The Mets’ owners want to roll the dice on building a Las Vegas-style casino next to Citi Field to recoup some of the $162 million for which team brass are still on the hook following the Bernie Madoff Ponzi-scheme debacle, plans obtained by The Post reveal.

While team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz are still having trouble opening their tight pockets for high-priced free agents, that didn’t stop their development arm, Sterling Equities, from betting on a proposal that called for bringing a massive casino with gaming tables and slots, a 500-room, full-service hotel, 1.8 million square feet of retail and other amenities to the Willets Point development site in Queens.

The Southampton-based Shinnecock Indian Nation signed on to operate the casino, and the Wilpons and partners even offered the city $100 million for the 62-acre site, according to the development team’s proposal, which was first obtained by project opponents Willets Point United and NYC Park Advocates.

With live-dealer casino gambling currently illegal in New York, except on tribal lands, the Wilpons and partner Related Companies were awarded a consolation prize.

In June, the Bloomberg administration handed them 23 of the 62 acres of city-owned land they sought in the September 2011 casino proposal — most of which is now used for parking — to build a $3 billion retail and entertainment complex without a casino.

City officials pulled the casino from the Willets Point plan partly because they thought the government-approval process would take too long, sources said. However, a city spokesman declined to comment when asked if the city would push for a casino there if the state Legislature eventually backs it.

More from NYC Park Advocates and Willets Point United.

Basically, the City was and is willing to condemn Willets Point for parking lots.

Ackerman pushes Ponzi protection bill

From the Daily News:

If Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz are going to retain control of the Mets, and their family's fortune, their best hope may be legislation introduced last week by a New York congressman.

Rep. Gary Ackerman's bill would bar bankruptcy trustees such as Irving Picard, the Madoff trustee who filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the Mets owners in December, from suing investors victimized by a Ponzi scheme unless the trustee could prove they participated in the scam.

Under the Ponzi Scheme Investor Protection Act of 2011 sponsored by Ackerman (D-NY), the only investors who would face "clawback" litigation would be investors whom the trustee can legally establish were complicit in a Ponzi scheme or negligent investment professionals. Trustees are currently permitted to sue Ponzi scheme victims even if they did not have involvement or knowledge of the fraud - and the Mets' owners say they did not.

If Ackerman's bill passes, it would be applied retroactively, which means Picard would have to drop the suit against the Mets' owners or prove that Wilpon and Katz were complicit in Madoff's $64 billion scam.

The measure was sent to the House Financial Services Committee. Ackerman said it will be an uphill battle to win congressional approval for the bill.

"Whether rich people make money or lose money, they get no sympathy from the public," Ackerman said.

Mario gets into the act

From CBS:

Now batting in the legal mess involving Bernard Madoff and the Mets: Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Manhattan appointed Cuomo on Thursday to serve as a mediator in a legal dispute between the Mets owners and the court-appointed trustee trying to recover money for victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

The trustee, Irving H. Picard, has accused Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and affiliated Sterling Equities entities of making $300 million in fictitious profits from Madoff’s swindle and ignoring warnings that Madoff’s returns were implausible.

From WFAN:

Moody’s Investors Service says it has lowered its outlook on the company that operates Citi Field, citing the potential for pending litigation against the owners of the Mets.

The ratings firm said Thursday it cut the outlook on Queens Ballpark Co. LLC to “Negative,” but maintained its “Ba1″ rating on the company’s bonds.

Moody’s says the move reflects the potential that pending litigation against the owner of the Mets, Sterling Mets LP, could hurt attendance at the ballpark.

Wilpon basically broke

From the NY Post:

There's no way Fred Wilpon can keep his grip on the team with a billion-dollar lawsuit hanging over his head.

Sources with direct knowledge of the 74-year-old Wilpon's finances said that even if an angel investor took the embattled owner up on his offer to buy 25 percent of the team for $200 million, it wouldn't put a dent in his potential Madoff liabilities.

The actual Met team -- including ticket sales, broadcast rights and branding rights -- is worth $860 million. But the team owes a staggering $430 million in debt. Last year, the Mets lost another $30 million, mainly from interest payments on that massive debt.

Citi Field, managed by Wilpon's Sterling Equities, is another financial drain.

Wilpon owes $700 million for construction. And under a deal structured with the city, the stadium -- controlled by a Sterling entity called Queens Ballpark Corp -- must pay $50 million in annual "payments in lieu of taxes."

The debt interest and stadium payments leave Sterling about $80 million in the red each year, sources with direct knowledge of the Mets' financials said.

Likewise, Sterling Equities' 65 percent stake in SportsNet NY is choked with debt.

The network gener- ates about $100 million a year in profit after paying $20 million in interest on $450 million in loans.

Of that profit, Wilpon only keeps $65 million because he has other partners.

So add all this debt -- around $1.58 billion -- to the near $1 billion he could owe Madoff investors, and there's no way he can keep the team.

Wilpons forced to sell part of team

From the NY Post:

Mets owners on Friday said they’re considering selling 20-25 percent of the team to "strategic partners" because of the financial uncertainty created by the lawsuit filed against them by the trustee in the Bernie Madoff bankruptcy case.

Fred Wilpon said the decision to offer part of the team was not made under pressure from Major League Baseball.

"At the outset I want to emphasize what we are discussing today has not and will not affect the Mets day-to-day operations and control," the Mets CEO said.

"Let me stress, at the end of the day, we may or may not do anything."

Jeff Wilpon, the team's COO, said the offer does not include interest in SNY or Citi Field.

The team said in a statement they have hired investment bank Allen & Co. to explore alternatives, including adding “one or more strategic partners.”

Adviser Steve Greenberg said he expects "robust interest" in the part of the team available, which could be worth over $200 million.

The Wilpons are allegedly "distraught" over the popular belief that they profited along with Madoff. But not everyone's buying that.

A local liquor mogul and a group including Martin Luther King III are reportedly potential buyers.

Oh, and the All Star Game is coming to Citifield in 2013.

Assemblyman says it's time to pay up

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Brooklyn legislator says cash-strapped New York should collect taxes it’s owed before taxing its people any more.

Brooklyn Assemblyman William Colton told 1010 WINS, the state is owed $14.4 billion in delinquent taxes and said the state should do its due diligence to collect the money.

Colton hopes a new website set up by the Department of Taxation and Finance will shame some of those delinquent taxpayers to pay up.

The website names the top 250 violating individual taxpayers and business taxpayers.

“Let’s change Albany by making sure that our middle-income families are not shortchanged by having wealthy companies and individuals get away with billions of dollars of unpaid taxes,” Colton said.

The strip club “Scores” tops the list — owing 14.7 million. Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff is number 147 on the list of individuals — owing $1.6 million.

The list – which has been up since April 2010 – will be updated every month, Colton said.

“They have to get top lawyers to go in and close the tax loopholes and they have to start fighting to get every penny of unpaid taxes that is owned by the wealthy businesses and individuals that are forcing middle income families to suffer,” he said.

Madoff bilked Wilpon's charities

Mets bigs took $8M Madoff hit
By JEANE MACINTOSH, NY Post

Charities tied to Mets-owning brothers-in-law Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz got hosed for $8 million in the Bernie Madoff scandal, new tax records show.

The losses came after the nonprofits posted several years of eye-popping returns on their investments with Madoff -- as much as 65 percent in Wilpon's case, according to the filings -- before the Ponzi scammer's financial house of cards collapsed and the gains were revealed to be phony.

The Mets Charity Foundation -- which counts Katz, Wilpon and his son, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, as trustees -- took the biggest hit, losing $3.8 million in the investment scheme, its IRS filing shows.

The loss left the $4.8 million foundation with "an inadequate amount of financial resources on hand" to "immediately satisfy" $752,000 in payouts to some of its causes, including $80,000 earmarked for Dominican Republic hurricane relief and $6,900 for the James Plummer scholarship, according to the paperwork.

Photo from Walk Off Walk

Gary pushing for new law to help friends

From the Daily News:

A Queens congressman - already under fire for accepting a sweetheart loan - also sponsored a bill that would have helped a close friend who lost $700,000 to Bernie Madoff, a Daily News investigation found.

Rep. Gary Ackerman's bill would have let Madoff victims write off taxes they paid on earnings from the Ponzi schemer dating to 1994.

Among the victims was Seymour Zises, a longtime Ackerman friend who lost more than $700,000 to Madoff, according to a lawyer for Zises' company, Family Management Corp.

Zises' company, FMC, handles Ackerman's personal investments, and Seymour's brother, Selig, arranged a loan for Ackerman, The News revealed Monday.

In public records, three additional FMC employees are Madoff victims and could benefit from the Ackerman bill.

Ackerman said he wasn't aware Seymour Zises lost money to Madoff and emphasized that he wrote the bill, HR 1389, last year to benefit all Madoff victims. HR 1389 remains in the House Ways and Means Committee.

Wilpon profited off Madoff scam?

From the NY Post:

Talk about getting caught in a jam. After watching his team go down to defeat this season, Mets owner Fred Wilpon now faces potential "clawback" suits for raking in nearly $50 million in phony profits from Bernard Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

The "Mets Limited Partnership" appears twice on a new list of 31 investors who took home more money from Madoff than they handed over to the mega scammer.

According to the chart compiled by Madoff bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard, the company -- reportedly linked to Wilpon through state incorporation records -- withdrew $570.5 million after investing $522.7 million in two separate Madoff accounts.

A spokesman for Picard didn't return a request for comment, but a former federal prosecutor told Bloomberg News that the trustee would be in "violation of his fiduciary duty" if he doesn't go after the excess dough.

Photo from the Daily News