A New Jersey judge on Monday plans to issue a damages order in a long-festering real estate case against Vikings owners Zygi, Mark and Leonard Wilf.
The three do not plan to be in court, the Pioneer Press reports. “The lawyers will be there,” Leonard Wilf said, the newspaper reports. His cousins Mark and Zygi Wilf on Monday night plan to fly to London, where the team will play the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend, the Pioneer Press reports.
The Wilfs are accused of defrauding former business partners in an apartment development deal dating to the 1980s, charges the Wilfs have denied. The plaintiffs are seeking as much as $51 million in the case.
A judge on Aug. 5 ruled that the Wilfs had committed fraud and violated New Jersey’s civil racketeering laws in the apartment complex development deal.
The ruling comes as the Wilfs are about to develop a new Vikings stadium, to be built in place of the metrodome in downtown Minneapolis by 2016. Recently, a stadium oversight panel probed the family’s finances to make sure the Wilfs would be good for their $477 million share of the new $975 million stadium. Ultimately, the audit found that the Wilfs can maintain their stadium commitment.
The Wilfs have been very private about their family finances, which have been a focus of the New Jersey case. The Wilfs’ vast business interests, which span 37 states, are a complex web that include an ownership stake in 460 entities, the Star Tribune noted.
The hearing is set for 12:30 p.m. CT Monday in Morristown, N.J.
