NY Mets owners made $48 million on Madoff investments
Filed under: People, Investing
For all the people and institutions that lost tens of million of dollars investing with Bernie Madoff, a few had to make money. Someone had to be smart enough to take their gains and call it a day.
It turns out that among the more intelligent Madoff investors, or at least the more fortunate, were the owners of The New York Mets baseball team. Several media reports say that filings with the bankruptcy court handling the Madoff matter, by the trustee handling the victim's claims, show that the Mets Limited Partnership put $523 million into two Madoff accounts and withdrew $571 million.
There has been a great deal of talk that those who made money with Madoff may be required to give profits back as part of a process to make as many investors whole as possible.
Why did the Mets make $48 million when so many other investors posted losses? It may just have been good fortune. There is no evidence, nor is there likely to be, that the team's owners knew anything about the operations of Madoff's funds. Like others, they probably invested money with Madoff because of his reputation as a magician with money.
The Mets did not have a good season, but as investors they prove the belief that it is better to be lucky than good.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-22-2009 @ 10:14AM
stan sirgutz said...
sowhy did they let the team drown in injuries without gettingb replacement players?? pathetic owners what about your fans? terrible leadership. if i was a met fan i 'd be tatally pissed ancd cancel my tickets loyalty means nothing to wilpons greedand self-serving get alittle steinbrenner vibe going invest in the team how many mercedes can you drive at the same time???
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10-22-2009 @ 9:00PM
bud68man said...
So your position is that every dime the owners make on their own investments have to be poured down the rathole of ever-and-ever-higher player salaries?
10-21-2009 @ 7:34AM
mary said...
ofcoures their going to call it luck what eles its all a game we all know that , i feel sorry for the ppl who really did'nt know untill it was too late but the luckly ones , oh you all knew what was cooking its all goverment baby wake up to dum ones who were sleelping and say something , like wall street i see its back on it's feet , really what about who still on the ground who may never get back on its feet is that just luck to , or was it their hard eanred money is what they used to get wall street back.
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10-21-2009 @ 8:10AM
richard said...
Sorry Mets owners---its howdy doody time---CLAW BACK TIME
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10-21-2009 @ 8:28AM
Bebe said...
Why should anyone have to give any profits back if they have paid taxes on them. The Feds should have regulated the company before. They dropped the ball even though they were warned about Madoff's scheme and let is go until it feel apart.
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10-21-2009 @ 4:43PM
floyd said...
The reason that people should be forced to give back the money is that it was gained by another person's illegal activities. Say you purchased something at a pawn shop, and it turns out that it was stolen. They will make you give it back, or face charges of possessing stolen property. The same thing could happen to the pawn shop owner if they find it in his store before it is sold. The person caught with the stolen merchandise or money, is alway the loser. Sometimes others that profited from it lose as well.
10-21-2009 @ 8:45AM
Lord Enki said...
It's this type of thinking that gets us in to theses messes It's money gained illegally and should be returned or you are no better that the person who created this scam.
***********************************************************************Why should anyone have to give any profits back if they have paid taxes on them. The Feds should have regulated the company before. They dropped the ball even though they were warned about Madoff's scheme and let is go until it feel apart.
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10-21-2009 @ 10:29AM
laughin@greed said...
oh how nice now the greedy man should give it to the ones taht lost everything but of course he woudlnt think of that
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10-21-2009 @ 1:31PM
G.S said...
IF THE GOVERNMENT HAD LISTENED TO THOSE WHO TOLD THEM ALL THOSE PEOPLE WOULD NOT HAVE LOST MONEY, THEREFORE IT IS THE GOVERNMENTS FAULT. THEY SHOULD HAVE INVESTIGATED MADOFF YEARS AGO. NO THOSE THAT MADE MONEY PAID THEIR TAXES SO THEY SHOULD KEEP THE MONEY. AS USUAL OUR GOVERNMENT IS AS USELESS AS TITS ON A BULL, AND THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN UNLESS THEY WAKE UP AND START TO LISTEN. ALSO FIRE ALL THOSE THAT DID NOT LISTEN OR LISTENED AND DID NOTHING.
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10-21-2009 @ 9:31AM
Chuck said...
Yep!! The Mets finally got luck!! You can take hat to the bank!
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10-21-2009 @ 9:38AM
Mike said...
Ok, so the Mets need to return 48 million. Next case...
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10-22-2009 @ 9:00PM
bud68man said...
Did the METS make the profit, or did the OWNERS OF THE METS make the profits? That's not the same thing. Every dime the Mets owners have is not invested in the Mets.
10-21-2009 @ 10:11AM
al said...
""It's this type of thinking that gets us in to theses messes It's money gained illegally and should be returned or you are no better that the person who created this scam."
This is assuming you can prove they had knowledge the money was gained illegally. The most guilty parties involved here are the government and Madoff himself. Heads need to roll.
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10-21-2009 @ 5:14PM
Bebe said...
My thoughts exactly.
10-21-2009 @ 10:17AM
crksr said...
I hope the Judges in the Madoff case will not force anyone to give back any earnings that they may have realized. The whole idea of investing is to make some money. Unless it can be proven that a particular investor knew of the scam, any profits withdrawn should be kept out of the reach of the Trustee in the case. I feel sorry for those who lost money but, we are not yet a Socialist Country.
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10-21-2009 @ 10:47AM
J Meyers said...
Anyone who "made money" from Bernie Madoff actually got money that Madoff stole from other people. He should have to return it.
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10-21-2009 @ 5:55PM
bill stewart said...
If someone robs a bank and uses the money to buy a car, should the auto dealer return the money to the bank? I think not.
10-21-2009 @ 10:40AM
Joe said...
If you didn't see this last night you need to watch-http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/
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10-21-2009 @ 10:39AM
Irving M said...
Do you have any idea how many Jews lost money with Madoff ? How can you make such a comment because one singular Jew actually came out slightly ahead.
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10-21-2009 @ 10:46AM
Lord Enki said...
??????????????????????????????????????????????
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