NEW YORK - The investment firm of New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz had no money involved in the Wall Street scandal surrounding arrested broker Bernard Madoff, the firm declared Friday.
Following a CNBC report that indicated the owners of the Major League Baseball club might have lost up to 300 million dollars, Sterling Stamos issued a statement denying any links to Madoff.
"Sterling Stamos Capital Management, L.P. and the funds it manages do not have investments in any of the funds managed by Madoff Securities," the statement said.
Madoff, 70, was arrested on charges that he swindled 50 billion dollars and prosecutors say he confessed to running a pyramid fraud scheme that paid off some investors with equity from others.
The Mets were already dealing with the economic downturn because Citibank, which is set to pay 20 million dollars a year for 20 years for naming rights to the team`s new ballpark, has sliced jobs and taken US government bailout money.