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August 25th 2006
Gold vs. Leyser: the $6 million phone call
Details of the lawsuit being filed by Bruce Crispin Leyser against 2006 WSOP winner Jamie Gold have been made public, including information about how the two met and a transcript of the alleged conversation in which Gold promised Leyser half his winnings from the WSOP main-event.
According to the lawsuit Jamie Gold and Bruce Leyser met in July in the Rio. The two men had a lot in common: both were avid poker players who worked in the television industry. They apparently began to discuss possible television business ventures together and Gold’s then told Leyser about his relationship with Bodog.
Gold explained that he was to gather celebrities for Bodog in exchange for Bodog were buying him into the $10,000 WSOP main-event tournament. The celebrities would wear branded gear to promote the site. According to Leyser, Gold encouraged him to try and secure his own deal with Bodog and even hinted he might be willing to give Leyser his seat in exchange for some celebrities. At this point the two men allegedly made a verbal deal that no matter who got the seat they would split any winnings 50/50.
Although Leyser managed to enlist a few minor celebrities in the end Bodog decided not to buy him into the event and gave the seat to Jamie Gold instead. Leyser was disappointed but still thought he was in line for a share of the winnings. Then Gold telephoned after Day One D of the main event and confirmed Leyser’s hopes when he reiterated that Leyser would receive 50 percent of any winnings.
The $6 million phone call
After two weeks of solid poker Jamie Gold made it to the final table and had a substantial chip lead. Knowing he was guaranteed a minimum $1.5 million pay day Gold elected to phone Leyser and allegedly left the following message:
“Hey, it’s Jamie. Thank you for your message. I slept pretty well so we should be fine. I have a real good plan on what to do for today. Thank you for all your help. I wanted to let you know about the money. You’re obviously very well protected. Everything will be fine. But nothing’s going to happen today, that’s for sure. I have the best tax attorneys and the best minds in the business working for me from New York and L.A. And what we’re probably going to do is set up a Nevada Corporation and it’s going to… I have to pay out of the corporation. I can’t just pay out personally because I could get nailed. So it might take a few days, so please be patient. I promise you, you can keep this recording on my word. There’s no possible way you’re not going to get you’re half after taxes. So please just be with me. I can’t imagine you’re going to have a problem with it.”
“I just don’t want any stress about any money or any of that shit going on today, or even after the end of the day. I’m sure you’re going to be fine. You’re going to be very well taken care of, absolutely fairly. We’re just trying to handle this properly and after now I don’t even want to talk about it or think about it. But please just trust me. You’ve trusted me the whole way. You can trust me a little bit more. I promise you there’s no way anybody will go anywhere with your money. It’s your money. All right, I send you love. Thank you for your support.”
The rest is history: Gold went on to win the main-event and the $12 million first prize; his opponents barely put up a fight. Since then Gold has not been to collect his winnings and consequently has not paid Leyser. He will now not be able to collect his winnings until after the hearing on the 1st September. Leyser, incidentally, says he has a copy of the conversation transcripted above. The poker world will be watching the hearing like a hawk. This could be the biggest scandal since the WSOP began.
Submitted: 25/08/2006 12:24:40
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