Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo has been appointed to mediate the dispute between the trustee for the victims of the Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and Sterling Equities, who are accused of profiting from Madoff’s actions. Cuomo was appointed on Thursday by a federal bankruptcy judge in Manhattan.
Cuomo was New York state governor from 1983-94. Prior to that the New York Times reports that Cuomo served as a mediator in New York City public housing cases as far back as 1972.
Irving Picard is the Madoff trustee. The lawsuit contends that Wilpon and Katz, used the profits from their investments with Mr. Madoff to establish personal fortunes, enrich dozens of family trusts and financially fuel their array of businesses, from the Mets to real estate to a cable sports network.
The lawsuit further contends the two men, their families and their businesses “made so much easy money from Madoff for so long” that despite the many warnings they “chose to simply look the other way.”