Steve Cohen Approval Thread

[MFS62]

From SNY:

According to Ken Davidoff of The New York Post, Steve Cohen met virtually with the Ownership Committee about two weeks ago. His "ingratiation into the ownership fraternity has proceeded smoothly, according to multiple industry sources," Davidoff said. Once that committee signs off on the purchase, the Executive Council will do the same, followed by a team-by-team vote. The vote could occur as soon as a week after the conclusion of the World Series.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

https://sports.yahoo.com/steve-cohen-york-mets-bid-164709393.htmlSteve Cohen's New York Mets Bid Approved by MLB's Ownership Committee

Steve Cohen's bid to buy the New York Mets was approved by Major League Baseball's Ownership Committee, all but assuring the hedge fund titan will be the team's new owner, according to people familiar with the matter. The Ownership Committee, chaired by Pittsburgh Pirates Chairman Bob Nutting, reviewed the vetting of Cohen and details of the proposed transaction, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the matter is private.

[MFS62]

Recuse himself?

I'm surprised Wilpon didn't try to up the price.

Later

[bmfc1]

The first vote approving Cohen was 7-1. Speculation is that Jerry Reinsdorf was the lone "no". Perhaps he is upset that A. Rodriguez will not be the Mets owner:

https://twitter.com/AROD/status/1216414391039479809https://twitter.com/AROD/status/1216414391039479809

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Reinsdorf was also a close ally of Fred. That was one area where Fred and Doubleday differered in that Nelson thought Reinsdorf was a shit for drafting Seaver

[G-Fafif]

Hizzoner could get in the way of thizzowner.

While MLB owners are scheduled to vote Nov. 17 on whether to approve Cohen at their owners' meetings in Dallas, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio could torpedo Cohen's plans before it even reaches a vote. The 2006 Stadium Lease Agreement between the New York City Industrial Development Agency and Queens Ballpark Company provides the city consent rights to deny the Mets and their stadium be transferred to a person who has committed a felony. Cohen was never charged with a crime, but in 2013 his former hedge-fund company, S.A.C. Capital Investors, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud. The company agreed to pay $1.8 billion in fines in one of the largest criminal cases against a hedge fund. Cohen, in a civil suit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was prohibited from managing outside money for two years.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2020/10/21/bill-de-blasio-new-york-mets-sale-steve-cohen/6005796002/https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2020/10/21/bill-de-blasio-new-york-mets-sale-steve-cohen/6005796002/

[MFS62]

If de Blasio pursues this, it might be viewed as the most anti-New York action ever taken by a New York City mayor.

He will be vilified as this generation's O'Malley by countless (voting) New York sports fans.



Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

Hizzoner could get in the way of thizzowner. While MLB owners are scheduled to vote Nov. 17 on whether to approve Cohen at their owners' meetings in Dallas, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio could torpedo Cohen's plans before it even reaches a vote. The 2006 Stadium Lease Agreement between the New York City Industrial Development Agency and Queens Ballpark Company provides the city consent rights to deny the Mets and their stadium be transferred to a person who has committed a felony. Cohen was never charged with a crime, but in 2013 his former hedge-fund company, S.A.C. Capital Investors, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud. The company agreed to pay $1.8 billion in fines in one of the largest criminal cases against a hedge fund. Cohen, in a civil suit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was prohibited from managing outside money for two years. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2020/10/21/bill-de-blasio-new-york-mets-sale-steve-cohen/6005796002/https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2020/10/21/bill-de-blasio-new-york-mets-sale-steve-cohen/6005796002/

It'd be interesting to read the actual contract clauses at issue. Cohen's hedge fund company, which pleaded guilty to certain charges, isn't the prospective Mets owner. Cohen is, and he has no criminal record. If Cohen himself was a convicted felon, which he isn't, he wouldn't have even bothered to involve himself in the process of trying to buy the Mets in the first place because, as a convicted felon, he'd have zero chance of getting approved.



I wonder how this story even broke, to begin with? Did de Blasio give the media a heads up on this issue wanting to get this story out there or did some reporter familiar with the contract minutiae go public without de Blasio's advance knowledge?



Based on what very, very little I know about this matter, I can't see de Blasio even trying to enforce that clause. (Unless the contract allows the mayor to enforce the clauses in question against the individual principals of a company with a criminal record. We'll see.)

[Centerfield]

Nightengale is a Jeff Wilpon/ARod stooge. He was the one that designated the JRod group as the “frontrunner”.

[G-Fafif]

Nah, says the News.



https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-jerry-reinsdorf-steve-cohen-sale-20201021-klp74pwnejdrhjlaxreqwqiete-story.htmlhttps://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-jerry-reinsdorf-steve-cohen-sale-20201021-klp74pwnejdrhjlaxreqwqiete-story.html

On Wednesday, USA Today reported that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio could serve as a hurdle to Cohen's pursuit of owning the club. Multiple industry sources strongly believe Reinsdorf was the primary source for the story. Like the August story, this story is inaccurate. De Blasio, in reality, is not expected to “torpedo” Cohen's plans before his approval reaches an owners' vote. De Blasio has enough problems (controlling the COVID-19 shutdown in New York City and avoiding confrontations with Orthodox Jewish leaders) without jeopardizing the lease over a non-issue and enraging the vast majority of Mets fans who want Cohen to own the club. The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, although de Blasio did say in August that A-Rod owning the Mets “would be very good for baseball and very good for this country.” USA Today also cited that, in the 2006 stadium lease agreement between the Mets and New York City, there's a provision in which the mayor can block the sale of the team to a “prohibited person.” The lease defines a prohibited person as "any person that has been convicted in a criminal proceeding for a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude.'' As previously stated, Cohen himself was never charged with a crime. He is not a prohibited person and was never accused, much less convicted, of a felony or crime of moral turpitude. To be clear: This is a last-ditch attempt by people who don't want Cohen to own the Mets. A spokesman for Cohen declined to comment.

[MFS62]

Nightengale is a Jeff Wilpon/ARod stooge. He was the one that designated the JRod group as the “frontrunner”.

This sounds like a Dick Young "sportswriter trying to muck things up" kind of thingie.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

It looks like the full vote is scheduled for November 17, three weeks from tomorrow.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It looks like the full vote is scheduled for November 17, three weeks from tomorrow.

Does that mean the hurdle of Mayoral approval (over whether he can be allowed because of his company's pleading guilty) has been overcome?



Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think the two things are on separate tracks. The MLB owners will vote on their own schedule. I don't know what deBlasio is doing. Hopefully nothing.



I knew him at NYU 37 years ago. I should have talked to him about this back then.

[Frayed Knot]

My bet is that DiBlasio has no clue that such a clause even exists or that he'd have any intention of doing something with it if he did.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I knew him at NYU 37 years ago. I should have talked to him about this back then.

If he blocks the deal, we will blame you.

Later

[MFS62]

From SNY:

Oct. 26, 12:22 p.m. Steve Cohen has the 23 votes required to approve his purchase of the Mets, according to SNY's Andy Martino, who reports that If New York City mayor Bill de Blasio moved to kill the deal, the group led by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez would not have the votes. League officials still do not believe that de Blasio will block the deal, according to Martino. People familiar with the sale process told Martino that Rodriguez and Lopez, who finished second in the bidding for Cohen, are not well-positioned to jump back in, with Martino adding that "sources firmly believe that owners would not approve that group."

Later

[Frayed Knot]

OK, so apparently DiBlasio https://nypost.com/2020/10/26/de-blasio-remains-a-stumbling-block-in-mets-sale-to-steve-cohen/is aware of his role in this:



“This is something our Law Department is evaluating right now and we obviously want to get to a resolution on this very quickly,” he said.

“The deal is this: Because the land that Citi Field is on and the stadium belong to the city, the city always has to have a role when there is an ownership change.

“There's a process for doing that. The Law Department is doing its due diligence right now,” he continued. “I'll be getting a report from them soon and it'll just

be based on the facts of the research they've done and then, again, we'll speak to that very quickly.”

[Benjamin Grimm]

https://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/steve-cohen-mets-sale-nyc-major-bill-de-blasio-1.50048029NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio expects answer on Mets' sale to Steve Cohen 'very quickly;' potential MLB vote this week

Major League Baseball's owners could vote as soon as this week to approve Cohen's $2.475 billion deal to buy the Mets, and — as has been the case for more than a month — Cohen is expected to receive the required 23 of 30 votes.

As soon as this week? I recall hearing that it would be soon after the World Series, but I recently saw something about it being on November 17.

A report from USA Today last week set off something of a firestorm when it suggested de Blasio might or had the ability to block the sale, but it is not clear that he legally has that power. And, if it is possible, there is no expectation that de Blasio actually will do so.

[Benjamin Grimm]

The Post is reporting that the vote will be on Friday.

[G-Fafif]

Ramming through votes is all the rage these days.

[Centerfield]

Is he approved yet?



How about now?

[MFS62]

=Centerfield post_id=49133 time=1603883530 user_id=65]
Is he approved yet?



How about now?

[kcmets]

That's fair enough, so October 29th!

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The Post is reporting that the vote will be on Friday.

[fimg=500]http://www.kcmets.com/CPF/missedit.png[/fimg]

[Frayed Knot]

OK so DiBlasio either is, or isn't, https://nypost.com/2020/10/28/bill-de-blasio-is-trying-to-kill-mets-sale-to-steve-cohen/going all out to scuttle the Cohen deal



On the one hand, numerous legal beagles looked into this prior to the sale agreement and concluded that the city has no grounds.

On the other, DeBlasio has his 'Watch me stick to Billionaires' image to upkeep and may try to do just that whether he's ultimately successful or not.

That tactics and logic, as well as some of the city politicians lined up with him, are similar to the pulling out of the Amazon deal.

And, yes, this all seems to be geared towards killing the Cohen deal in favor of the J-Rod group so someone has friends in high places.









From the same paper, https://nypost.com/2020/10/28/de-blasios-shameful-steve-cohen-mets-ploy-is-about-a-rod/Mike Vaccarro fires back

[MFS62]

Exactly who does this benefit?

The J-Rod consortium can't raise the amount of cash as the Cohen deal.

DiBlasio will be forcing the Wilpons to accept a deal for less money? Not likely. They could sue for constraint of trade.

And the ultimate losers will be the fans, as the matter is tied up in courts far beyond free agent signing season.

An bad situation for all concerned.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

=MFS62 post_id=49225 time=1603973696 user_id=60]
Exactly who does this benefit?

Edited October 29, 2020 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe they can placate Alex Rodriguez by giving him a tent in the Citi Field parking lot.

[smg58]

A file with the mayor's true intentions is on the same hard drive as Hunter Biden's incriminating emails.

[kcmets]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Maybe they can placate Alex Rodriguez by giving him a tent in the Citi Field parking lot.

Ok, that is pretty funny!!



I doubt this thing gets scuttled in the waning hours approaching the vote and approval but

if it does I'm done with the Mets. This time I mean it. No, really! Done...