Fred Wilpon Allegedly Defrauded

Sterling Equities is reportedly a victim of fraud, allegedly at the hands of Bernard Madoff. Sterling was founded and is managed by New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz.

The amount of money lost is unknown but has been reported to be in the $300 million range. The effect on the operation of the Mets is debatable but the Mets issued a statement to the press yesterday:

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This news does not affect the day-to-day operations and long-term plans of the Mets organization and the Citi Field project.

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You can read a full report on the Ponzi scheme and it’s impact on the Mets from Darren Rovell at CNBC.

My initial thought is that the Mets won’t be impacted because $300 million isn’t a huge sum compared to the annual revenue of the Mets. Plus Sterling Equities is a separate entity from the Mets.

If things got really bad, Wilpon and Katz could always sell off pieces of the Mets to minority owners to raise cash. We’ll have to keep an eye on that going forward.