Lawsuits

You no doubt remember your grade school government lessons that explained how the Congressional branch makes the laws while the Judicial branch interprets them. After the passing of the UIGEA, many people expected a legal frenzy to begin, with each challenger trying to strike out the true intent of the law.

Here comes their chance. We now have the first post-UIGEA arrests. The Associated Press is reporting that New York prosecutors have brought charges against 27 people connected with an online sports betting operation. The site, Playwithal.com was run by poker player James Giordano, however there was no poker being played on the site. Also nabbed was MLB scout Frank Falzarano, though the why is not yet known.

Assets totalling $500 million were seized, such as condos, jewelry, art and Bellagio casino chips. The DA's office has scheduled a news conference for today where they will show off the assets and hopefully shed more light on the charges, which include "enterprise corruption" [what the hell?], money laundering [those chips laying around don't help that defense much], and promoting gambling [gasp!].

It's dismaying to see an arrest coming already, before banks have even received instructions on how to comply with the new law. It's also disappointing that the "ringleader" is identified as a poker player. While it may be accurate, it just makes it that much easier for people to associate poker players with all that is unholy and evil online. Clearly if one of us is breaking the law, we all are. Not knowing a lot of details about the charges and evidence at this time, I can't offer a conjecture as to the defense. I do think this case will be watched closely and that many people in the online gaming world will use it as a benchmark for any legal challenges they might wish to make.

We'll keep you updated on this case as it develops.

Jamie Gold's lawyers have finally responded to Crispin Leyser's claim that he's owed 6 million, and Wicked Chops Poker has posted the highlights. Among them, Gold alleges that Leyser was down on his luck and looking for a handout, to which Gold, in his infinite generosity, offered to help him out. Gold claims he never offered to give Leyser a full 6 million, just that he would "help him out." However once Gold hit the money in the WSOP, Leyser started to harass him, which Gold claims led him to leave the most expensive voice mail in history. Furthermore, Gold claims that Leyser didn't want taxes or tip coming out of his share of the winnings.

Read the full breakdown over at WCP, and heck, read the full motion if you're so inclined; but note that we will mock you for having nothing better to do on a Friday afternoon. I think this motion, along with the ESPN coverage of Gold, are really helping to improve his image. I especially like how Gold makes it known that Leyser didn't want any tip coming out of his portion. It's a perfect excuse for not dropping a few dimes in the dealer tip pool.

This is, at the core, a case of he said/he said, though I doubt it would be hard to find character witnesses to back up the claim that Leyser was in financial trouble and perhaps a wee bit needy. Finding sources to back up Gold's claim that he was just trying to help a brotha out? That may be a little bit harder, given the Hollywood crowd Gold runs with. I tend to lean more on Leyser's side, just because I don't see him continuing on with this battle unless he truly believes that Gold promised him half his winnings. And for God's sake, why would you ever, in a million years, tell someone you were going to give him half if you had absolutely no intention of doing so?? He's calling and texting you all the time?? Turn off the damn phone. You are at the World Series of Poker after all, and voice mail was created for a reason...

Kudos to CardPlayer for stepping up their poker journalism a tad. Their current cover story is a Playboy-style interview with WSOP champ Jamie Gold, and in it they don't try to pretend he's not a controversial character with questionable poker values.

In the interview, he addresses the presence of bodyguards -- you are welcome to believe or not believe his claims that there were Nancy Kerrigan-style threats. (I am pretty sure I heard someone in the hallway scream, "I'm gonna kill that motherfucker!") He also -- scroll down to the end -- directly addresses his dealer tip, or lack thereof ... claiming that everyone who deserves something will get theirs, but he never attached a number to it. Well done, Michael Friedman, for getting him to address these topics.

But the one issue not discussed was his lawsuit with Crispin Leyser.

I'm pretty sure Jamie's "people" set up the interview only on the grounds that he wouldn't be asked about the $6 million he may or may not owe Leyser. Fair enough ... it's common for subjects of lawsuits not to want to comment on pending litigation. But they can't prevent you, as in CardPlayer, from writing about it! Ask Allyn ... she'll tell you ... lawsuits are a public records, and therefore the media has every right to address them in pretty much whatever capacity they see fit. At a minimum, CP shoulda printed something in the story acknowledging the basis of the lawsuit and any interview restrictions pertaining to it. Or, legally speaking, they coulda just agreed to whatever with Jamie Gold and then renegged on the deal.