Deerfield-News.com-Deerfield Beach, FL-Why is July 1 known as “Bobby Bonilla Day”? Partly because of former scammer Bernie Madoff and former Mets owner Fred Wilpon. The New York Mets pay their former star $1.2 million every July and will for time to come. Bonilla, who has not played in the Major Leagues since 1999, receives a deferred payment as a result of the deal his agent negotiated, and will keep on receiving $1.2 million a year from the Mets until 2035.
I lieu of a Bonilla outright payment, Wilpon opted to defer payments so that the money could be unwittingly invested into Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Bonilla’s agent Dennis Gilbert negotiated with the Mets to defer payments until 2011, with an 8% annual interest rate. So the Mets are stuck paying Bonilla a whopping 1.2 million every July 1 and he will keep on collecting until age 72. Madoff the disgraced Ponzi schemer, died in 2021.
