Donald Trump has
had a busy February.
Last week, the real estate mogul spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, prompting rumors that he is considering a run for president. In his address, The Donald was characteristically controversial, asserting that America is becoming “the laughingstock of the world,” and drawing boos for suggesting that quirky libertarian Ron Paul has no chance of being elected president.
And now, The Donald is making noises about buying a majority share in the New York Mets.
Trump's murmurings are the result of a crisis faced by current Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon, who was recently slapped with a $1 billion lawsuit brought by Irving Picard, trustee for victims of disgraced Ponzi scehemer Bernard Madoff. The suit says that Wilpon knew or should have known that money the team had invested with Madoff was being used as part of a Ponzi scheme.
Since the suit's filing, Wilpon has been adamant that he was unaware of Madoff's scheme, and that he was duped by a man he described as a decades-old friend.
“We did not know one iota, one thing about Madoff's fraud,” Wilpon said to reporters on Thursday. “We didn't do anything wrong. If anything, we trusted a friend for a very long time and, as I told you a few months ago, that betrayal is very difficult for me.”
“This was a man ... we were friends for 35 years and investors for 25 years,” Wilpon continued. “Having said that, we will be vindicated ... The one thing that no one ever, over 50 years in business, questioned, was my integrity. And you all have questioned my integrity. And I intend to go through whatever is necessary to vindicate that, and get on with our lives.”
No partial ownership
According to reports, Wilpon recently phoned Trump and asked if he would be interested in buying a minority share, an offer which Trump rejected. Trump is apparently only willing to sign on if he is a majority shareholder.
The possibility has sparked mixed reactions. Rob Parker, an ESPN columnist, says that Trump “has shown over the years that he can get things done,” and that “[h]e can build mountains out of molehills.”
“Best of all, The Donald is about winning,” Parker says.
But Craig Calcaterra, of NBC Sports, says that Trump's casino ownership -- strictly forbidden of baseball owners -- along with “all the [other] reasons” -- mean that Trump won't end up taking Wilpon's spot.
“I’ll eat my 1983 New Jersey Generals poster if Trump ends up as the majority owner of the New York Mets,” Calcaterra declared.
Madoff: Banks “had to know”; Wilpon, not so much
Wilpon's crisis -- and Trump's opportunity -- come in the same week that The New York Times released an exclusive interview with Madoff in which the fallen financier said that a number of financial institutions “had to know” that his operation wasn't legitimate.
“They had to know,” Madoff told the Times. “But the attitude was sort of, 'If you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know.'”
But Madoff seemed to vindicate Wilpon in the interview, telling the paper that the Mets owner “knew nothing” of the fraud.
