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Judge Overseeing Mets' Owners' Madoff Profit Case Is A Yankees Fan
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 8, 2012
Modified Mar 8, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 8, 2012
Modified Mar 8, 2012
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The Mets' owners are facing a trial over the fake profits they made from Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and the NY Times' Richard Sandomir notes how some legal experts think that a jury trial—which this will be—is bad news for Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. Also, Federal Judge Jed "Rakoff, regarded as a brilliant but unpredictable jurist, alone will question the jury pool. He is a Yankees fan and a partial season-ticket holder."
However, Sandomir continues, "His neutrality is assured and seems unlikely to be affected by his rooting interests." In a 2004 speech about "Corporate Ethics in the Age of Steroids," Rakoff stated (PDF), "All I can say in my defense is that at least I’m a Yankees fan—although, as a matter of professional courtesy, I always root for the umpires." As for being brilliant, well, what else can you say about a judge who refers to Hamlet and Oedipus Rex in a judgement allowing a NYC graffiti party to go on and quotes Oscar Wilde when rejecting the SEC's Merrill Lynch settlement?
Back to the trial's jury: According to the Times, "According to several lawyers and a jury consultant, the trustee will want jurors who resent millionaires. But Wilpon and Katz’s team, they said, probably want less class-conscious people who might be more inclined to feel the trustee’s pursuit of the Mets’ owners was overzealous and unfair. The trustee has accused the owners of ignoring warning signs about Madoff’s operation as they benefited from steady returns during their many years of investing with him."
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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