Sterling Equities in

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck (village), New York, Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, New York, Great Neck Es ...

, is a diversified, family-run group of companies whose portfolio consists primarily of holdings in real estate, sports, and media in the New York area. These include the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

, the

Brooklyn Cyclones The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and play at Maimonides Park, just off the Coney Island Boar ...

SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications thr ...

, the

New York Excelsior The New York Excelsior (often stylized as NYXL) is an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in New York City, New York. The Excelsior compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017 ...

, Sterling Project Development, and a number of

real estate investment Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively ...

portfolios and

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

services businesses. The firm became embroiled in the

Bernie Madoff Scandal The Madoff investment scandal was a major case of stock and securities fraud discovered in late 2008. In December of that year, Bernie Madoff, the former NASDAQ chairman and founder of the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securiti ...

exposing a relationship between Sterling Equities partners and Bernie Madoff spanning 20 years. The partners eventually settled a billion dollar suit with the Madoff Trustee,

Irving Picard use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , nationality = , other_names = , citizenship = , ...

, for $161 million.

Holdings and history

Sterling Equities is a diversified, family-run group of companies whose portfolio consists primarily of holdings in real estate, sports, and media in the New York area. These include the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(an interest was acquired in 1980, and it was a full owner from 2002 to 2020, when

Steve Cohen Steve, Steven or Stephen Cohen may refer to: Sportspeople * Stephan Cohen (born 1971), French pocket billiards player * Steve Cohen (gymnast) (born 1946), American Olympic gymnast *Steve Cohen (judoka) (born 1955), American judoka and Olympian *Ste ...

bought the team), the

(a regional sports TV network it formed in 2005), the

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting lea ...

, Sterling Project Development, and a number of

portfolios and

services businesses (it has developed nearly 25 million square feet of commercial property). Citi Field - panoramio

It was founded in 1972 by

Fred Wilpon Fred Wilpon (born November 22, 1936) is an American real estate developer and former baseball executive. He was principal owner of the New York Mets from 1987 to 2020. Early life and education Wilpon was raised in a Jewish family

(Chairman) and

Saul Katz Saul Katz (born February 17, 1939) is a real estate developer, former president of the New York Mets and accused Bernie Madoff co-conspirator. Biography Katz was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn. It has developed a number of properties, including the tower at

450 Lexington Avenue 450 Lexington Avenue is a 38-story office building located on Lexington Avenue between East 44th and 45th Streets, in East Midtown, Manhattan, New York City. The building, which was built in 1992, is clad in Sardinian gray granite and features a r ...

. It built

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...

$40 million under budget, and took over development of a Willets Point project.

Madoff Ponzi Scheme

Sterling Equities was embroiled in the

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDA ...

scandal. Madoff trustee

alleged that the Sterling Equities had pocketed millions in fictitious profits. Sterling Equities had opened accounts with Bernard Madoff for themselves, their businesses, their friends and family, and business associates. Sterling was associated with 483 Madoff accounts. For example, Sterling Equities partner Greg Katz had 31 accounts with Madoff dating from 1992 and withdrew over $23 million in illegal profit. The Sterling Equities partners opened accounts for their wives and families. Valerie Wilpon, Amy Beth Katz, and Heath Katz Knopf all had accounts with Bernard Madoff. According to Picard, Sterling Equities used funds withdrawn from their wives’ accounts to meet their personal and/or business financial obligations. The Sterling Equities had a close personal relationship with Bernard Madoff. Madoff had Mets season tickets with seats near the owners box. Madoff and his wife, Ruth, traveled to Japan with the Wilpon's and Katz's. Sterling assisted Madoff with securing office space in Manhattan's

Lipstick Building The Lipstick Building, also known as 885 Third Avenue and 53rd at Third, is a 453-foot (138 meter) tall skyscraper at Third Avenue between 53rd Street and 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was completed in 1 ...

. The Madoff's, Katz's, and Wilpon's were involved in several charities together. They attended movies together and had houses close together in Florida. By 2008, Sterling Equities had withdrawn approximately $300 million in fictitious profits. In 2012, Sterling Equities including

and

Jeff Wilpon Jeffrey Scott Wilpon (born December 9, 1961) is an American businessman who is the executive vice-president of Sterling Equities, and the owner of the Overwatch League Esports team the New York Excelsior. He is the former COO of the New York Mets b ...

settled a lawsuit by trustee

that alleged that they had invested in Madoff's

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...

even though it knew the returns were fraudulent. Despite the allegations they were aware of Madoff's fraud and beneficiaries of it, Sterling asked the US Supreme Court to reverse a court decision and allow them access to a special fund set up for Madoff victims.

References

{{New York Mets owners Real estate investing Companies based in Nassau County, New York Real estate companies of the United States New York Mets owners Madoff investment scandal New York Excelsior

Holdings and history

Madoff Ponzi Scheme

See also

References