Mario Cuomo gets role in NY Mets Madoff mess

[February 11, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Now batting in the legal mess involving Bernard Madoff and the New York Mets: Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Manhattan appointed Cuomo on Thursday to serve as a mediator in a legal dispute between the Mets owners and the court-appointed trustee trying to recover money for victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

The trustee, Irving H. Picard, has accused Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and affiliated entities of making $300 million in fictitious profits from Madoff's swindle and ignoring warnings that Madoff's returns were implausible.

The Wilpons and Katz have denied wrongdoing.

Cuomo was governor from 1983-94, and his son Andrew became governor last month. Mario Cuomo was a minor league outfielder in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1952 before becoming a lawyer and politician.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton R. Lifland said in a court order that the case had "special issues" that needed "an appropriately experienced mediator."

[Associated Press]

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