Settlement Reached in Hollywood Home Game Lawsuits

A case involving the victims of convicted Ponzi schemer Bradley Ruderman that shed unwanted light on high-stakes poker games played by various Hollywood celebrities has been settled out of court. Victims of Ruderman will receive approximately $1.75 million of the $5.2 million they had been seeking from individuals who had allegedly won money from Ruderman in the poker games which saw Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and others taking seats.

In 2010, Bradley Ruderman, a Beverly Hills hedge fund manager, was charged with cheating investors of over $25 million via a "Ponzi scheme"-type of fraudulent investing. Ruderman pleaded guilty to investment-adviser fraud, wire fraud, and failure to pay taxes, and is currently serving out a more than 10-year prison term.

Ruderman was also ordered to pay $27.5 million in restitution to his victims. A court-appointed trustee was charged with finding ways to recover money for the investors, which led to lawsuits being filed against 22 different players who won considerable sums versus Ruderman at poker in the famous "Hollywood home games" from 2006-2009.

Besides spending investors' money renting property in Malibu and buying two Porsches, Ruderman was said to have blown through more than $5 million in the games.

Thanks to the lawsuits, there have been several expose-type features regarding the high-stakes poker games involving actors, individuals from the music and film industries, sports figures including New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, and other high-profile types. For example, last fall a lengthy piece appeared in The Hollywood Reporter titled "The Secret World of Hollywood Poker" which shared various insights about the games and their operation.

Not all of those alleged to have participated in the games found themselves targeted by lawsuits, as only those who won sums from Ruderman were named. Those said to have played in the games who weren't named in lawsuits included Rodriguez, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Meanwhile among the group who won money from Ruderman and thus found themselves targeted with lawsuits were director Nick Cassavetes, record label owner Cody Leibel, and film producer (and Paris Hilton sex tape co-star) Rick Salomon.

Others had already settled out of court, including Gabe Kaplan and Tobey Maguire. Maguire, who has WSOP cashes to his credit (including a 292nd-place finish in the 2007 Main Event), has been said by many to have been the biggest winner in the games. Ruderman's victims had sought $311,200 from the Spider-Man star, but the lawsuit against him was dropped after a settlement for $80,000.

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