Bernie Madoff Pitching A Save For The Mets

Bernie Madoff is trying to pull a Fransisco Rodriguez, and save the owners of the Mets, Fred & Jeff Wilpon, saying they didn't knew about Madoff's scheme. Madoff also said that NY banks, like J.P. Morgan

had to have known about the scheme. In an interview with the

Madoff says the Wilpon's didn't know about the scheme. With Madoff's help, it does give some credence that the Wilpon's didn't know about the scheme. "They knew nothing. They knew nothing," Madoff said in reference to the principal owners of the Mets, as well as team president Saul Katz. Many people will say that once, a liar, always a liar, but I believe him in this case. There's no benefit to him to lie. He will never get out of prison alive, and even if the Wilpons did did know about the Ponzi scheme, they would still be sued by Irving Picard for the other investors. I do believe Madoff when he says that

about the Ponzi scheme, as there was an email as far back as 2007 saying that there were concerns that Madoff's returns were fraudulent. "They had to know," Mr. Madoff said. "But the attitude was sort of, 'If you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know.' " Deborah Renner, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, the court-appointed counsel for the trustee, said that did not recuse J.P. Morgan from acting in its own interest. "Even then, JPMC executives did not restrict the BLMIS [Madoff's] bank account, even though it was being used to launder money from the Ponzi scheme," said Renner. Last week, the

from Irving Picard was unveiled against Wilpons. Picard claims that the Wilpons made more than $300 million from Madoff, while the Wilpon's claim they lost $500 million. Picard believes they "knew or should have known" and most of what Madoff said in his interview backs up the notion that they should have known what was going on. Late in

the Wilpons disclosed that they were looking to sell a minority stake in the team, perhaps as high as 25%, in order to settle the debt owed to the Madoff victims. These talks have fallen through, and it looks like the case may go to court for final resolution. Just today,

said that they were not interested in selling a majority stake in the team, despite the fact that no one is probably going to fork over $200 million for a minority stake in the team. "We're not selling controlling interest in the team. It's not on the table,” Wilpon said. Wilpon did say that it's taking a bit of a toll on the family. “I'm doing fine,” he said. “This is all obviously a little bit of a distraction, and I feel really bad for our family and bad for my dad and my uncle because this is just unfounded criticism on them. They've had years and years that they've been good citizens, good businessmen. And to attack them they way they've been attacked is really very unfair, unfounded and that's all I really want to say on that. "They're handling it. Obviously you'd like not to deal with it, but it's just unfortunate the attacks have come on them. We're going to fight it and we're going to be victorious in the end." The Wilpon's have a battle on their hands, with both public perception of the franchise, as well as how they are going to settle this suit. Entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban, Donald Trump, and even Martin Luther King III, have expressed interest in purchasing the Mets. If they can get through successfully, it may very well trump anything we see on the field this season. Unless, Jose Reyes hits an inside the park homer. Nothing beats that.