NEW YORK, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon admitted Monday he was burned in a swindle orchestrated by financier Bernard Madoff, but the Mets were unharmed.
Wilpon, fresh from firing General Manager Omar Minaya and Manager Jerry Manuel, confirmed for the first time that he was a victim in Madoff's $65 billion ponzi scheme, calling it a "total betrayal," the New York Daily News reported.
"No question that you don't like to lose money that is stolen from you, but the betrayal is something that I'll never forget," Wilpon told reporters. "I'll go to my grave with that one."
The newspaper said Wilpon didn't reveal how much money he lost with Madoff, now serving a 150-year prison sentence. Some reports have indicated Wilpon and his family were out as much as $700 million.
But the team owner asserted the Mets were unscathed. "The Madoff issue was one business investment part of our business," he said. "It took some liquidity away, but that's not the part of the business that's running the (Mets) shop."
