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While what follows certainly isn't on the scale of the Wilpons' entanglements with Bernie Madoff, at least insofar as the Mets are concerned, it is in grim keeping with recent franchise history. SAC Capital Advisors LP, the hedge fund run by Mets minority owner Stephen A. Cohen, has pleaded guilty to security and wire fraud and been fined $1.8 billion, reports Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
While Cohen himself was not charged in the indictment, Bloomberg notes that he faces an "administrative action" by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In a nifty bit of situational irony, Cohen -- who has long angled to own an MLB franchise -- was brought into the Mets fold only because the Wilpons were desperate for cash following their own misadventures in high finance. Cohen paid just $20 million for his share of the team, so this almost certainly won't materially affect the state of the franchise. However, Cohen's efforts toward one day being the majority owner of a team will likely come to grief thanks to this scandal.
