A $162 million settlement between the owners of the New York Mets and the trustee seeking money for the victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud was approved yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, Reuters reported. The settlement, announced on March 19, was a victory for brothers-in-law Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and their family-run Sterling Equities real estate, baseball and hedge-fund empire. Wilpon and Katz will not have to pay out any cash immediately and trustee Irving Picard dropped his allegation that they turned a blind eye to Madoff's fraud. The court settlement calls for payments over a five-year period. Wilpon and Katz will not have to pay any cash until the fourth year. The $162 million could end up being mostly paid with money due to Sterling Equities as a victim of the fraud.
