More Leyser-Gold drama

[Ruprecht]

Jooka,

It is not likely that BoDog would have a senior representative appear at trial, given the legal climate in this country regarding their business. But they would probably agree to have the key personnel deposed in Antigua (I believe they are licensed there.), and the parties would likely be able to stipulate to most of the facts surrounding BoDog's involvement with Mr. Gold.
However, the judge was hinting strongly to Mr. Gold that he should settle. Mr. Gold can afford good lawyers, and when judges drop hints like that pre-trial, good lawyers know how to advise their clients.

[Joe O]

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Basically, I think Leyser accepted a highly advantageous freroll, knowing that it was probably too good to be true but assuming nothing special would result from it, either.

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I don't think Leyser was offered all that much. Half of Gold before the event started was worth what, half of 15k? Half of 25k tops. Leyser would have been just as well off with Gold buying him a bunch of Powerball tickets.

[Peter McDermott]

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I'm reluctant to post this, because I have no corroboration for it, but this is News, Views, and Gossip. I received an email from someone unknown to me who purported to be a friend of Leyser. In this email, I was told that Leyser believed that he was going to get to play in the Main Event in exchange for finding the celebs. In his mind, getting half of Gold was not "a highly advantageous freeroll" but a very poor substitute for his own seat in the Main.

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I'm fairly certain this is covered in the court filings. The bit about Leyser playing, anyway. The implication was that Gold had suggested he'd get a seat for finding celebs, and when the celebs turned out to be rather less than 'A' list, he was forced to make do with half of whatever Gold won.

If I'd been in his shoes, I would have thought that was equivalent to bupkis as well.

[RikaKazak]

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Well Gold wasn't able to get ANY celebrities. If Leyser hadn't gotten those B-list celebs, then Gold might not have gotten the seat from Bodog at all. The consideration is not lacking because they were b-list celebs instead of a-list celebs. It was enough for Gold to get a free seat into the WSOP and that is all that matters.

I think the most likely scenario here is: Gold made a deal with a guy who he didnt know that well and figured it didnt matter cause he'd probably just bust anyway. Then he ended up winning the 12 mil and Leyser started being annoying, so Gold decided to stiff him.



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I agree with this.

[grdred944]

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Why would Leyser settle now? The judge who will make the final ruling at trial, just said that Leyser is very likely to prevail at that trial. That's huge. And Gold & Chan have said there is no obligations to Chan. And BoDog is now paying Jaime, not the other way around.

This is slam dunk for Leyser. Junior law students can argue over whether there is "consideration", but the judge in the trial has already ruled there is. It's like arguing with Theo Epstein over his posting fee for D-Mat. You may be right that Theo paid too much, but the deal is done and the issue is over.

If Leyser wanted to settle, he could offer Jaime $400k-500k to go away. That unlocks the money now, not six months from now, which has some value to Leyser. And it protects him from the small risk that Jaime's lawyer can come up with a new defense, get a new judge or find some other strategy to get the money.

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You answered your first question in your third paragraph. I personally do believe that from everything I read, Leyser would prevail. But it would be irresponsible of Leyser's attorneys to assume a slam dunk based on the judges recent comments. Yeah, the best deal for their client may be to play it out to a final decision by the judge but we are far from that point. Until they get to that point, settlement is a preferred option.

You are correct about the public pronouncements about Bodog and Chan but my cynical side tells me that Chan is due some cash or was paid after all this hit the fan.

[grdred944]

Excellent analysis. And it eloquently backs up my belief that the case will settle for $2-3M so it has to be on-target. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]