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Pensa na fartura q anda o CT do Santos hehehehe

Falar o q ?

hein

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Soccer Boy

New Sports Illustrated Column: Will Mets Owner Fred Wilpon Settle Complaint from Madoff Victims?

I have a new SI column on the complaint filed by victims of Bernie Madoff against Mets owner Fred Wilpon, and what it means for the future of the Mets. The complaint was unsealed today. Here is an excerpt from the column:

* * *

A settlement might also benefit Wilpon from the standpoint of his coveted position as an owner of a major league franchise. For one, his team would likely be handicapped by a drawn-out litigation. There would be resulting uncertainties as to how much the team could spend, especially on players. For instance, how would the team approach contract discussions with prized shortstop Jose Reyes, who is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2011 season, if the team's owner might be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in the Madoff fallout? Or how would the Mets approach trade offers for ace Johan Santana, who is due a guaranteed $72 million over the next three seasons? And would the team be forced to change its draft strategy to one that involves drafting a larger percentage of amateur players who would be cheaper to sign over more talented, but expensive prospects?

A settlement might also prove beneficial to Wilpon as a big league owner because of Picard's assertion that $90 million from Madoff's fund was used to finance the Mets. If true, such an assertion could cause substantial problems for Wilpon in his relationship with other big league owners and with the commissioner's office. It would mean that Madoff's victims -- many of whom lost their life savings to Madoff's Ponzi scheme -- effectively paid the salaries of million-dollar Mets players.

Empowered with his "best interests of the game" authority, and also with language from the franchise agreement Wilpon signed with Major League Baseball when he purchased the Mets, Selig could potentially discipline Wilpon and encourage him to leave the fraternity of big league owners -- a move that could be facilitated if other big league owners shared the view that Wilpon should not be among them. . . .

* * *

To read the rest, click here.

NBA Legend Oscar Robertson Joins Ed O'Bannon Lawsuit against NCAA

Ed O'Bannon's class action lawsuit against the NCAA, which centers on the NCAA's use and licensing of former college players' images and other identifying characteristics, received a boost last week, when Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson - the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double (30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 11.4 apg in 1961-62) -- joined O'Bannon as a plaintiff.

As Libby Sander's discusses in her Chronicles of Higher Education article, the 72-year-old Robertson, who played at the University of Cincinnati until 1960, objects to the NCAA and his alma mater still licensing his image for their financial gain, without his permission, after all these years.

Just check out the Amazon page for his Donruss "American Legends" basketball card, depicting Robertson's days as a college player. Robertson receives no compensation for the cards (unlike his NBA cards).

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports has more on the Robertson addition and other new co-plaintiffs:

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“The arrogance of the NCAA to say, ‘we have the right to do this,’ … is what troubles me the most,” Robertson told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. “The University of Cincinnati gets a fee each time my picture is used on a card. I don’t. When I played there, there was nothing like this ever agreed to.”

Robertson put his considerable reputation on the line Wednesday and joined a 2009 class action suit against the NCAA, first championed by former UCLA Bruin star Ed O’Bannon, as a name plaintiff.

* * *

Joining Robertson in the additional complaint is former Connecticut player Tate George, whose buzzer-beating shot over Clemson in the 1990 NCAA tournament has been resold in DVDs and featured in advertising campaigns for Vitamin Water, McDonald’s, Burger King, Buick, Chrysler, and Cadillac. It was recently used in an online advertising campaign to sell Egg McMuffins.

Also now on board is former Ohio State football player Ray Ellis, who starred in the 1980 Rose Bowl. A number of games he participated in are being sold on commemorative DVDs or rebroadcast on the Big Ten Network.

* * *

To read the current complaint, click here. To read an SI.com column I wrote on the case, click here.

Piazada.... td na paz?

Tem coisa melhor q amizade

bom hein

largadao na boa

ooo meuw Pae 

Abs

Soccer Boy

Public Forum: MMAdness - Issues Surrounding the Legalization of Mixed Martial Arts in NY : Rescheduled

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Location: 14 Vesey Street

Time: 6:00pm

Speakers:

* Joseph M. DeGuardia, Esq., Owner of Star Boxing, a boxing promotional company, and President of the Boxing Promoters Association;

* Michael DiMaggio, Esq., Associate, Collins, McDonald & Gann, P.C., dietary supplements and sports drug defense;

* Kurt Emhoff, Esq., Attorney, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman and licensed boxing manager;

* Paul Stuart Haberman, Esq., licensed boxing manager and Chair, Entertainment, Media, Intellectual Property and Sports Law Committee's (EMIPS) Sports Law Subcommittee of the New York County Lawyers Association; and

* David N. Weinraub, Managing Partner, Brown & Weinraub, PLLC, New York UFC Lobbyist.

Panelists will discuss the legal and regulatory issues relating to the legalization of mixed martial arts in New York, as well as its potential economic impact if it were legalized.

Sponsor: EMIPS Committee

FREE/RSVP: dlamb@nycla.org

New Sports Illustrated Column on Lawsuits filed against New York Mets Owner

I have a new SI.com column on two significant lawsuits filed against Mets owner Fred Wilpon and others connected to the team. Here are some excerpts from the column:

* * *

The lawsuits center on Wilpon and his companies' investments with imprisoned Ponzi scheme artist Bernard Madoff and whether Wilpon and his associates knew, or should have known, of Madoff's fraudulent actions. If successful, the lawsuits could require Wilpon and other defendants to pay hundreds of millions in damages. Payment of those damages could threaten Wilpon's ability to own the Mets or at least to sustain a high team payroll. (The Mets had the fifth-highest payroll in 2010 at $133 million.)

* * *

Goldweber v. Sterling Equities is a class action lawsuit filed last July in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The named plaintiff, Elyse Goldweber, is the widow of a former employee of Sterling Securities, a real estate investment firm that owns the New York Mets, among other businesses. Sterling Securities maintained a 401(k) retirement plan worth about $17 million, 92 percent of which was invested with Madoff, whose fraudulent actions wiped out most of the plan.

* * *

Goldweber's primary claim boils down to a "hear no evil, see no evil" charge: Wilpon and his associates should have questioned Madoff's investment strategy, especially given the numerous commentaries that had raised questions about Madoff's almost unbelievable returns. Had Wilpon inquired seriously into Madoff's remarkable track record, he would have developed suspicions that Madoff was not investing, but rather ripping off investors. . . .

* * *
[Picard v. Katz & Wilpon} is known as a "clawback" lawsuit: If an investor "earned" any profits in a fraudulent enterprise up to six years prior to discovery of the fraud, those profits themselves can be deemed fraudulent. The underlying logic is that those profits were generated from fabricated numbers and from money that was stolen from other investors, many of whom are left with nothing in the Ponzi scheme. If deemed fraudulent, profits are then disgorged from the investor and re-distributed to victims of the fraud. Even an investor's principal investment can be "clawed back" if it was recovered in bad faith, such as recovering the principal within 90 days of a hedge fund filing bankruptcy (in the case of Madoff's fund, the bankruptcy filing date was Dec. 11, 2008, meaning that Katz and Wilpon needed to have recovered their principal no later than Sept. 11, 2008). The potential damages in a successful clawback lawsuit against Wilpon could go into the hundreds of millions.

* * *

While Major League Baseball has not weighed in on Wilpon's woes, it is in the best interest of the league and Wilpon's fellow owners that lawsuits do not become sources of league-wide embarrassment. To the extent that commissioner Bud Selig and the owners can encourage Wilpon to reach private settlements, they will likely do so.

The Major League Baseball Players' Association also has a stake in the matter. Considering that Wilpon pays the Mets' salaries, his financial wherewithal, and that of any other Mets' owners, are matters of great significance for Mets players. While the league could provide the Mets with financial assistance if need be (or go a step further and take over control of the franchise, as occurred with the Texas Rangers last season), a financially-capable Mets ownership would prove the best outcome for all considered.

* * *

To read the rest of the column, click here. On Thursday, at 10:35 A.M. Eastern, I'll be on Sirius XM MLB Network Radio (XM Channel 175) to discuss the column with former Red Sox manager Kevin Kennedy and former Mets GM Jim Duquette. Hope you can tune in.

O Boy está pegando fogo hehehehehe