Wilpon's Folly

The remarkable story of Fred Wilpon, a man who lost everything in one day, then lost it all again over the next three years.

On December 11, 2008, in the middle of a busy baseball offseason, Bernard Madoff was arrested for orchestrating a massive financial fraud. Among his chief investors was Mets owner Fred Wilpon, who not only lost a major revenue stream as a result, but is now being sued for "fictitious profits" that he now owes to other Madoff victims. To the tune of almost a billion dollars.

How did this happen? Where did Wilpon go wrong, and why does a fraud victim suddenly owe money? The truth about these questions has been largely hidden, but in this short book, the whole story is fully revealed. In this tight narrative, Howard Megdal tells the dramatic financial tale and proves a surprising truth: Wilpon's thirty-year reign as owner of the Mets is about to end.

Perhaps the most public victim of the Madoff scandal, Wilpon now faces a long road, and likely a difficult offseason. Here Megdal articulates both Wilpon's position and those against him. Like Michael Lewis' The Big Short, this book unravels the world of a major investment scandal through an entertaining and recognizable story.

Howard Megdal is the editor in chief of the Perpetual Post. He covers baseball, basketball, and soccer for The Journal News, Capital New York, MLBTradeRumors.com, New York Baseball Digest, and he has written for the New York Times, New York Magazine, ESPN.com, and numerous other publications. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter. He is the author of two previous books, Taking the Field and The Baseball Talmud. Follow Howard on Twitter @HowardMegdal.