ABBEY SPANIER FILES ERISA CLASS ACTION AGAINST STERLING EQUITIES ASSOCIATES, FRED WILPON, ARTHUR FRIEDMAN AND MICHAEL KATZ

On July 30, 2010, Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams, LLP, filed a class action lawsuit against Sterling Equities Associates, Fred Wilpon, Arthur Friedman and Michael Katz (owners of the New York Mets). The class action is brought on behalf of all participants and beneficiaries of the Sterling Equities Associates Employees Retirement 401(k) Plan against Defendants for violations of their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The complaint seeks relief on behalf of the Plan to recover assets that were lost though Defendants' imprudent investments with Bernard L. Madoff and his investment firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC from July 12, 2000 to December 12, 2008.

Plaintiff alleges that defendants Wilpon, Friedman and Katz, each having certain responsibilities regarding the management and investment of Plan assets, breached their fiduciary duties to class members by (1) failing to prudently and loyally manage the Plan's investments with Madoff and BLMIS; (2) continuing to invest Plan assets with Madoff and BLMIS when it was imprudent to do so; (3) failing to provide complete and accurate information to Plan participants regarding the prudence of investing with Madoff and BLMIS; and (4) maintaining the Plan's heavy investment with Madoff and BLMIS.

The Court-appointed Trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy currently pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has determined that certain Sterling-related entities are "net winners" in the Madoff Ponzi scheme, meaning that some Sterling entities have withdrawn more money from Madoff accounts than they invested. It has been reported that Mets LP withdrew $570.5 million from two Madoff accounts, having invested only $522.7 million, for a gain of $47.8 million. Thus, while defendant Wilpon has been quoted as claiming that he and his business family are "fine," his loyal employees have lost their retirement savings, with the exception of the proceeds of an insurance policy that does not come close to covering the losses in their 401(K) accounts.