Tobey Maguire Sued Over Multi-Million Dollar Illegal Poker Game; DiCaprio, Affleck & Damon Involved.

Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire is among more than a dozen high-profile Hollywood celebrities being sued in connection with a mega-millions illegal gambling ring that ran high-stakes underground poker games, Star magazine is reporting exclusively.

Maguire, 35, won more than $300,000 from a Beverly Hills hedge fund manager who embezzled investor funds and orchestrated a Ponzi scheme in a desperate bid to pay off his monster debt to the star and others, it's alleged.

An FBI investigation into Brad Ruderman, the CEO of Ruderman Capital Partners, uncovered how he lost $25 million of investor money in clandestine poker games held on a twice weekly basis in suites at the luxury Beverly Hills hotel, Four Seasons, and the Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard.

I would prefer to see justice. If all they did was gamble illegally, then they might face the courts for that. However, as a conservative, I would prefer that the government stay out of the private lives of all Americans, no matter how much I detest their politics.

I don’t know about yachts, but consider homebuilding.

If you pay a contractor to build you a house, and that contractor takes your money, builds you a house, but does not pay his suppliers (brick, tile, services, etc.), those supplies may place a lien on your property, even though YOU paid the contractor. The house is the expression of the fraud.

"Even if we are to stipulate that the embezzled funds were used in a poker game, once they hit the table, they were gone"

Actually, not exactly. I won't bore you with the legal finer points, but in law there is something known as an "ill-gotten gain". This would be that. Gambling like this in California is illegal. In fact, it's a felony.

"How do you know Maguire did not subsequently "lose" that money to another person at the table?"

For the purposes of this discussion, whatever Maguire did with the funds once he received them, is irrelevant. He still benefited from the ill-gotten gains. "This is unlike Madoff's ponzi scheme."

To an extent. If the Feds could have proved that Madoff used those monies in another illegal enterprise, and the other party to the transaction knew it was an illegal enterprise (and in some instances, even if the other party didn't know), the money could be recovered under the same principle.

The plain legal truth is that Maguire is in a corner and he'll probably be on the hook for this cash. The reason the others aren't named in the suit is probably because they weren't stupid enough to accept a check like Maguire was.

If other checks do surface, you can bet you'll see additional defendants added to the complaint.

"I’m sure all the Hollywood leftists reported this income to the IRS "

I have absolutely no doubt that the IRS is coming through the tax returns of all those named. From what I understand, Maguire actually accepted a check for payment of a marker he gave to this guy. I'm not sure if anyone else was that stupid. It was probably a (for the most part) cash business, which would make it a bit more problematic for the IRS - not impossible, but problematic.

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