Tobey Maguire on Illegal Poker Ring Lawsuit: I'm Innocent

By Kiki Von Glinow Posted Jul 1st 2011 10:24AM

Forget forking over the cash -- or rather defrauded winnings -- he raked in at a series of high stakes underground Hollywood poker games, Tobey Maguire says his gambling wins were totally legit. The 'Spider-Man' star's sticky fingers sure are making a comeback -- this time, in the court room.

According to Radar Online, Maguire has filed a contradictory response to the lawsuit alleging that the money he won during his lucky streak with the card table sport was actually money a California hedge funder, Brad Ruderman, had illegally 'borrowed' from investors. A now incarcerated Ruderman created a Ponzi scheme in attempt to pay back his initial investors the money Maguire had won from him. The lawsuit seeks $300,000 in winnings to be returned to the suit's trustees.

So how is the former super hero going to get himself out of this one? Maguire insists that the underground ring was not a formal league of poker faced gentleman and denies that any ringleader (specifically a Molly Bloom who has admitted that she was in control of the structured ring of A-list gamblers) was ever appointed.

Maguire "denies generally and specifically that Molly Bloom and/or Molly Bloom Inc., coordinated poker games, hired the dealers for the Poker Games, collected fees or arranged the Poker Games and arranged for the settlement of gambling winnings and losses between and among the players at the Poker Games," his response detailed.

But according to reports, the poker league was, in fact, a bit more organized than your average smoke-filled garage, card table setup. Players, among which Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck have also been named, met bi-weekly at the Beverly Hills hotel, Four Seasons or Viper Room to get their gambling on and often played in back rooms guarded by armed security.

But Maguire does not seem to be budging when it comes to opening up his bulky wallet even though scammed investors are chomping at the bit to see their cash returned -- let the battle begin!

Tags: tobey maguire

Comments

(3)

Friday 01 July

By peter

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The problem for Tobey is that Molly Bloom has already admitted these games were highly organized, which undermines his whole statement. He might not ultimately be held responsible for paying back the hedge fund people, that's Brad Ruderman's problem. But Tobey may be slapped a fine for not reporting his gambling earnings on his tax forms. I think it's clear these poker nights were professionally organized.

By Barbara

Wasn't he in the underground poker game in one of the Ocean's movies? Ocean's 12 maybe? Life imitating art.

Monday 04 July

By scruff

i use to work for lawyers so i can't help but get a bit invested in this. anyhoo, i look at it this way: maguire alleges that he played some of the games, meaning he did not attend/play all of them. some of these games took place in personal/private residences with from what i hear a small number of players (8 to 9).

in my mind this is like having the guys over for a game of poker that wouldn't require someone in bloom's position to organize it. it may be true that she did organize the poker games in the hotels because the lawsuit ruderman's clients have filed against bloom list payments ruderman made to bloom for organizing games.

it isn't unheard of for someone to lie on a sworn affidavit to protect other questionable activity he/she has been involved in. considering that supposedly bloom organized games for wall street investors in new york before she dropped in on l.a. and then suddenly went back to new york in 2009 where she was supposedly roughed up by some russian mobsters she has ties to makes me think bloom seems to be trying to run or hide from something or someone.

i am not quick to write-off maguire as dishonest by virtue of the fact he is a celebrity. he is also known to be a serious poker player and usually plays with other serious players who really know this game. it seems more like a case of making sure you know who you are playing with than maguire trying to duck the irs. that's just me.

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