Jeff Wilpon

Jeffrey Scott Wilpon

The son of New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon was the chief operating officer of the Mets, running the business side of the team on a day-to-day basis, until their sale to Steven Cohen in October 2020.

Upon his graduation from college, Wilpon was signed by the Montreal Expos although he never played in that team's organization. The drafting was done as a favor to Jeff's father by then Expos owner Charles Bronfman, as the two were friends from working together on the boards of various charities. Instead of a having a playing career, he was given responsibilities in the team's front office, eventually becoming the head of the team's operations in 2003. He is also a board member of two senior entities of Major League Baseball, MLB Enterprises and the MLB Network.

As an executive, Wilpon has often been involved in controversies. He has been accused of trying to wield too much influence in baseball matters, particularly when Omar Minaya was the General Manager. His biggest accomplishment was to oversee the construction of Citi Field, which opened in 2009.

In September of 2014, serious allegations were leveled at Wilpon, as a former Vice-President in charge of ticket sales, Leigh Castergine, sued him for harassment and discrimination, alleging that the cause of her recent firing was that she had had a baby out of wedlock, something about which Wilpon had frequently made disparaging remarks before dismissing her. The suit filed by Castergine was settled out of court the following March.

Like his father, Wilpon was also smeared by the Bernard Madoff financial scandal, as he and his father were among the few investors to make money from Madoff's massive fraudulent Ponzi scheme.

Related Sites

• Article from Yahoo Sports on the discrimination suit