Jamie Gold Makes a Compelling Argument (that Crispin Leyser is Desperate, Super Needy, Annoying + Wrong)

We're not going to suggest that Crispin "Don't Call Me Bruce" Leyser is a few wine coolers away from joining the Clay Aiken fan club or that his "wife" Jules is his "beard." Or that Bob Stupak, Jeffrey Pollack, Lance Bass and Crispin Leyser may all have something in common, not that there's anything wrong with that. To suggest any of this would be inappropriate.

Regardless, we're just saying.

What we will say though is that Jamie Gold's attorneys have finally told his side of the story in the Motion they filed on Wednesday, November 1. And it's compelling; first, in the way that it shapes Gold's promise to share his winnings as a non-enforceable gift rather than a bargained-for agreement, and two, in the way that it makes Crispin Leyser seem like a sad, desperate, overly eager, down-on-his-luck guy who Jamie felt sorry for, that is until he began harassing Gold like an obsessive, needy girlfriend who wants to know everything is fine with the relationship and calls and calls and texts and texts like an annoying bitch girl and then files a lawsuit against you without notice.

Anyway, download a pdf of Gold's Motion to Dissolve Preliminary Injunction here, and draw your own conclusions.

For those who think reading legal documents is, well, like reading legal documents, a summary of the allegations after the jump, along with photos of Crispin's wife, Jules Leyser....

In his Motion to Dissolve Preliminary Injunction, Gold makes the following claims:

- Bodog gave him his WSOP seat because "of his poker skills and prior tournament wins," and his agreement with Bodog did not in any way require him to secure celebrities in exchange for the WSOP seat.

- Gold, an agent-turned-television producer, first met Leyser, an unemployed, Brit television producer living in the Hollywood Hills, in July 2006 through Crispin's hot "wife" Jules, who had met Gold at a poker tournament. Jules seduced Gold with her looks and British accent, we assume, and because she's hot, Gold agreed to meet with her "husband" who wanted to pitch Gold some of his bad TV show concepts.

- During their meeting, Leyser allegedly said that he was hurting financially and told Gold that he had no source of income to pay rent on his California home and that he was about to lose his home in Britain. In the Motion, Gold's lawyers even refer to the NPR piece on Leyser, which we wrote about in 2005, to show that Leyser's sole income was playing online poker and was just enough to pay the bills. Gold also alleges that Leyser was interested in employment with Gold's TV production company.

- The first sign to us that Leyser may be someone to be weary of--in a remember-that-scene-in-Swingers-when-Favreau-left-that-girl-like-10-messages-right-after-meeting-her kind of way--was when he sent an email to Gold immediately after meeting him that read:

Hi Jamie,
Great to meet you today and really looking forward to dinner tomorrow night. I'll call you in the morning (but not early) to check that you received this, so that you can e-mail me the info.

FYI, I enclose my resume. Hope the poker gods have been treating you well.

Best

Crispin

- During their conversations in LA, Leyser repeatedly told Gold that he wanted to play the WSOP badly but didn't have the 10k. Gold told Leyser about his Bodog deal and said that they were looking for some celebs to play for Team Bodog. Leyser asked if maybe he could get a seat if he helped land some celebs, saying he had "relationships" with Lance Armstrong's manlover Matthew McConaughey and actor Matthew Perry, who once played a straight man acting gay. Gold said, yeh if you nail those guys, for Bodog that is, they'll likely buy you a seat.

- Leyser didn't nail McConaughey or Perry, for Bodog. But he did nab Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and Dax Shepard (Punk'd), to which Gold said, more or less, that since their names require parenthesis to explain who they are, Bodog wouldn't likely give him a seat but that Gold would go ahead and make sure Shaggy and Dax got spots on the Bodog celeb team anyway. Feeling sorry for Leyser, who had expressed great disappointment in not getting a seat from Bodog, Gold promised Leyser that he would share his winnings. In other words, as Gold's filing emphasizes: "It was only after Plaintiff secured Lillard and Shepard--and not in exchange for this alleged service--that Gold expressed a desire to assist Plaintiff by sharing a portion of any winnings. Gold's offer was nothing more than a promise to make a gift."

- Gold explains further in his supporting affidavit: "I then expressed a desire to take care of Leyser by sharing a portion of my winnings. I did not mean that he would received fifty percent of the winnings or that he was 'sharing' my seat."

- The motion then details how when word got out that Gold was the chipleader at the Main Event, the Leysers began texting him and calling him incessantly and flew to Vegas and, as Gold says, "Leyser harassed me through demanding and distracting phone calls and text messages. These calls/messages were almost hourly and happened while I was at the poker tables."

- On the last day of the tournament, Gold claims that Leyser repeatedly harassed him with phone calls, and "hoping to remove Leyser as a distraction," Gold left the now famous $6 million voicemail.

- After the WSOP, Leyser and poker pro Mark Seif, who Leyser hired as his attorney, repeatedly called Gold to get him to have the Rio disburse half of the winnings over to Leyser. Gold's tax attorney, however, was unfamiliar with how that worked and was worried about a number of tax consequences concerning the payout including the possibility of Gold having to pay taxes on the entire $12 million, especially if Leyser, a British citizen, sought to get out of paying any taxes because of a loophole that Mark Seif said he had discovered.

- Negotiations ensued with Gold's attorney seeking some type of indemnity agreement or hold back of funds for tax liability purposes, but Leyser would only accept being given the entire $6 million. Period.

- Gold also claims that Leyser didn't want the customary tip to come out of his gift.

- In the middle of their talks and while Gold's attorney sought a better understanding of potential tax liabilities, Leyser, without notice, filed the lawsuit heard around the poker world, and then some.

- In his Motion to Dissolve Prelimary Injunction (in other words, to have the court compel the Rio to pay out the remaining $6 million to Gold now), Gold makes the legal argument that there was never a valid contract and that Gold's promise was merely a gift that went undelivered and that "the law is clear that a gift is not enforceable unless delivered."

So, what say you?

For some past Wicked Chops Poker posts on the Leyser-Gold suit, go here, here, here, here, and browse around here.

Comments

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[Pumas shoes]

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[Jerseys]

Oh well, there is something to be said for getting a $10,000 buy-in for the cost of a signature and the promise to wear some logos.

[Shox NZ]

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[t.walt]

They both remind me of a couple of sleazy used car salesmen(LA's full of 'em). But give Gold some credit, he was able to focus and win while his new buddy was harrassing him throughout the tournament.

[snake]

now that was just mean. and hurtful. and thoughtless. to use the word blog.

[uratool]

Educated at Oxford - CHECK
Marry a hot & smart wife - CHECK
Mad poker skills - CHECK
House in the Hollywood Hills - CHECK
Make a deal with a welching dick for 6 mil - CHECK
Get flammed on this site - CHECK
Jealous pervy writers blog cause you cant get any of these above? - CHECK - CHECK - CHECK

[John Pearley Huffman]

Tom,

Your points are well taken. And I acknowledge that there's always an undeniable allure to a free buy-in at the end of my "JPH" post. It's only interesting that he didn't buy-in himself in light of his supposed success and how many people I know who, similarly successful, bought in on their own dime. He had to hustle, I assume, to get Bodog's sponsorship. And for a Malibu resident with a large income, the hassle of that hustle itself wouldn't be worth $10,000.

Of course, I don't know all that much about Jamie Gold. But it's a question that has arisen in my mind.

[Drizztdj]

Doogie Howser switch hitting. Bears lose at home. Poker players going back their words.

Madness.

Lets hope they don't start charging for booze in Vegas.

[John Pearley Huffman]

This is going to be interesting litigation to be sure... but it all seems to boil down to a question of "consideration." That is, did Leyser provide something of value (a service or product) in consideration for a half interest in Gold's winnings. And on the evidence, I think he obviously did.

Forget the relative status of the celebrities involved, the truth is that Leyser did in fact get Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepherd to wear Bodog clothing during the WSOP. Now why would Leyser have done this if there wasn't anything in it for him? Out of sheer love and charity for Bodog? Unlikely. And if there was no agreement between Leyser and Bodog (and there's been no claim there was), it seems reasonable to conclud that Leyser acted on behalf of Gold in securing Lillard and Shepherd.

What would be particularly damning is if Gold took credit for securing Lillard and Shepherd in any communications between himself and Bodog. That could arise either from, say, a note or eMail. Or in testimoney from someone at Bodog.

If Leyser acted for due consideration -- and I can't think of why he would have otherwise -- then Gold's case looks mighty weak. That's not a gift, that's a contract.

[Tom]

JPH,

Just want to point out a couple of things to you:

1) the bodog contract was in fact integrated and thus any verbal agreement b/t bodog and gold would likely be barred by the parol evidence rule. Therefore, Leyser wouldn't have an argument there.

2) You state:
"What I don't understand is why, if Gold was so successful in other tournaments and so secure in his profession as a television producer, why he needed Bodog to pay his buy-in into the WSOP in the first place? He could have made a lot more money selling his position as WSOP champion for endorsements after he'd won than selling it beforehand. And he could have saved himself the hassle of this lawsuit."

I just can't fathom that someone who knows how to properly phrase the legal issue in this case could really wonder why Gold would take a free buyin to the WSOP. Ya know, he kinda didn't really have much more than a 1:8000 chance to win it...

[Grappler]

I can not stand anything about Jamie Gold. That aside, he made a deal that he would split his winnings and he is trying to reneg. To be a gift there would have had to be something tangible to "give". (The gift defense is the same argument my exfiancee used to keep the $5,000 ring I gave her.)

Gold believed it was in his best interest to agree to split the money with Lester before the event. He should be forced to do that. Steve Danaman held up his end of the bargain and so should Gold.

[yo]

the best pros don't pay for their buyins. sites that they play for pay it.

[JPH]

As much fun as speculation is -- about the relative toolness of the parties involved and the sexual orientation of said parties -- it looks like this case is going to turn on a delicate legal issue: Was Jamie Gold's promise and enforceable contract or the unenforceable promise of a gift.

Keeping in mind that no one has seen all the evidence involved (and apparently there's quite a bit of communication between the parties) it seems that there's reason to believe either Leyser or Gold could wind up prevailing here. The obvious argument that Leyser can make to counter Gold's is that the Bodog contract didn't express the terms under which it was offered -- that is that there was an informal clause (a handshake agreement or at least a verbal understanding) that Gold would procure celebrities for Bodog at the event. It will be interesting to read Leyser's response.

One thing it seems clear about is that Gold will prevail in dissolving the preliminary injunction that has all that money impounded at the Rio. Gold's argument that since what Leyser seeks is cash he isn't harmed by having that cash in Gold's hands until the case is resolved seems compelling.

What I don't understand is why, if Gold was so successful in other tournaments and so secure in his profession as a television producer, why he needed Bodog to pay his buy-in into the WSOP in the first place? He could have made a lot more money selling his position as WSOP champion for endorsements after he'd won than selling it beforehand. And he could have saved himself the hassle of this lawsuit.

Oh well, there is something to be said for getting a $10,000 buy-in for the cost of a signature and the promise to wear some logos.

[jason]

an uber expensive purse and $400 sandals? a house in hollywood and a home in britain they cant pay the mortgage on, supposedly? material crap doesnt make someone not down on their luck...could make them someone extremely in debt with credit cards, etc.

no?

[Waynebullet]

I don't like either one of them now. Now, I can never look at Mark Seif in the same way either. Why did it take Gold almost 3 months to respond? That sure did give him a lot of time to set all these stories up.

[change100]

Jules Leyser was carrying a designer bag that is probably worth more than my car and wearing $400 silver leather sandals as she watched the WSOP final table with her husband.

Hardly down-on-their luck, I'd say. At least in the fashion department.

[barb]

Poor Clay can't catch a break. As for this mess, I think they're both crazy, but Gold was mad fun to watch making the final table those 72,000 times I watched before they actually showed the final table, so I'm taking his side; at least he entertained me. I can't wait to see him play a big tournament card dead to see how he does.

[Rob]

Best TV Show Pitch Leyser gave Gold...

Dax Shepherd reprises the Lee Major's role with a poker twist in....

"The $6 Million Dollar Man-whore."

[Mitchell]

Yes this is a case where there are really no good guys. Seems everyone wants to make one person the victim and the other the perpetrator...but it isn't so black and white. It's easy to call Gold a tool but Leyser is equally one as well...and he really did show his true colors in filing this lawsuit. oh and did you read those pathetic tv show pitches he sent Gold? wow .. really really bad. seems like him and Gold come from the same mold.

[jason]

Gold simply talks too much and his talking got him into trouble here. Lawyers will likely get him out of it now. Leyser is a pansy who really should have taken some money and run...he's coming across as a lousy fella and i don't like him but i'd bang his wife. Gold isn't bad for poker and he isnt good for poker...and who cares either way. I dont think he does and he's entitled to that.

[CJ]

Bottom line...

Jamie Gold is still a complete toooooooool.

This hasn't changed my mind on that. He's the first champion that could be bad for poker since... um... hell, even Varkonyi was harmless!

[Haig]

Gold made the promise and left the voicemail. He needs to be a man and pay up.

[Gunner]

From all accounts, this Leyser guy was basically walking around with a tin cup asking for handouts so he can pay his bills... He strikes a "gentleman's agreement" to get two "A" list celebrities for Gold, which he didn't even come CLOSE to accomplishing. Then when Gold DOES try to do the prudent thing just to get the mess over with and offers the guy half, Leyser says he want the ENTIRE $6M - not $6M minus the taxes? WTF????

He didn't live up to his part of the agreement! This guy should feel lucky to be given a few hundred thousand (MAYBE!) for his efforts!

Oh - and have you seen the bumper sticker on Leyser's Yugo? It reads;

"EAGLES MAY SOAR, BUT WEASELS DON'T GET SUCKED INTO JET ENGINES!"

What a complete tool...