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So what if Alex Rodriguez plays poker! That’s what SN baseball writer Anthony Witrado had to say about this week’s revelations that Major League Baseball is investigating the Yankees slugger for his alleged participation in an underground high stakes poker game.
It wasn’t just any game though. A-Rod is being tied to an elaborate ponzi scheme with the high stake games at its core.
A lawsuit filed against Spiderman actor Toby Maguire and others (A-Rod is not named) alleges that hedge fund manager Brad Ruderman caused some investors to lose their life savings as part of the complex ponzi scheme involving winnings – or, in this case, losses - at the poker games.
“The investors that I represent lost about $50 million dollars,” Ehrenberg told RadarOnline.com exclusively. “I contacted representatives for Mr. Maguire before I filed the lawsuit against him as a courtesy, because I didn't want to cause him embarrassment. My attempts to collect money from Mr. Maguire were unsuccessful and went unnoticed, and I was forced to file the lawsuit against him.
“I was appointed by the court as a trustee in this case, to get money for investors that lost their money. I'm not trying to garner any publicity for myself, I just want to get money that is owed to the investors in the Ruderman Capital Partners hedge fund."
According to one report, A-Rod was at one game that involved some people openly using cocaine and a fight over one player not wanting to cough up his $500,000 in losses.
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Anyway, this whole poker business, I don’t see it as that huge a deal. MLB is so afraid of players gambling it feels the need to address a report that came out of a checkout-stand tabloid magazine whose information usually isn’t worth the time it takes to read unless you’re also a big fan of Maury Povich and the bald guy that used to be a bouncer for Jerry Springer. I’m surprised Jesus and four aliens weren’t also reported being at the game.
The story on A-Rod is painted as the shady, seedy game that you see on movies like “Rounders” despite the reported participants being of means and famous. Their game, if it ever happened, is no different from the ones many normal, hard-working American’s play in, just with about a dump truck’s load more money on the table.
Again, we don’t suspend players for driving drunk or beating women, but if A-Rod is playing poker again, MLB should throw the book at him? Yeah, right.
- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
