PORT ST. LUCIE — The first day of workouts at the Mets’ spring training complex on Thursday included a high fastball delivered from principal owner Fred Wilpon to those who would question his family’s integrity.
“We will be vindicated,” Wilpon said. “Allegations are not fact.”
He was referring to the explosive lawsuit against the Mets’ parent company, Sterling Equities, filed by Irving Picard, the Trustee for the victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The clawback lawsuit seeks up to $1 billion in damages from Wilpon and his brother-in-law Saul Katz, the Mets president.
Wilpon said his lawyers will answer Picard’s complaint in the next six weeks.
“Six weeks from right now, when we answer that complaint, you are going to see vindication right there,” Wilpon said.
“We did not know one iota, one thing about Madoff’s fraud. We didn’t do anything wrong. If anything, we trusted a friend for a very long time. The truth will come out.”
Wilpon echoed the statement his son Jeff made a day earlier, when the younger Wilpon —the team’s COO — said controlling interest of the team is not for sale.
“Every other business we have, I like,” Fred Wilpon said. “This business, I love. I love the New York Mets. This is part of my DNA, so we’re going to do everything we can possible to bring competitive winning teams here and change our whole baseball system. We’ve done that, and now they have to bear fruit.
“This is just not a business and we don’t look to make large sums of money from this business. We want to do this because we love baseball, we love the city and there are some people in the city that will tell you the Wilpon and Katz families have contributed a lot to the city.”
Wilpon indicated he likely won’t have a problem finding a buyer if he decides to sell up to 25 percent of the team to increase cash flow. The team has retained Steve Greenberg from Allen & Co. to broker a potential deal. The Wilpons have stipulated they would retain control of the club in any sale of minority interest.
“Steve told me yesterday that he’s never run a process like this where he’s gotten more, real, top-notch people to go through the process,” Wilpon said. “There are a lot of people who have a sincere interest.”
Wilpon also indicated commissioner Bud Selig is not pressuring him to sell the team.
“[Selig] has been supportive like my brother,” Wilpon said. “He is fully up to date. I talk to him all the time.”
mpuma@nypost.com
