NEW YORK, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- New York Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon reiterated Wednesday his beleaguered family has no intention of selling a majority stake of the team.
Wilpon, son of Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon, repeated assertions that his family and co-owner Saul Katz will not consider offers to relinquish control of the franchise and are merely seeking additional minority shareholders, The New York Times reported.
"We're not selling controlling interest in the team," Jeff Wilpon told the newspaper. "It's not on the table."
The Wilpons and Katz sought new investors after becoming the targets of a lawsuit filed by the trustee of the victims of Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernard Madoff. Irving H. Picard contends the Mets owners were among the net winners of Madoff's multibillion-dollar, 25-year scam and is reportedly seeking as much a $1 billion in restitution.
New York real estate developer Donald Trump told the Times Tuesday he would be interested in buying the team outright.
"There's been a lot of interest," Wilpon said, "and good interest from real people that you haven't read about in the paper. Most of what you read about in the paper is not real."
