Tobey Maguire, a.k.a Spiderman, is currently in trouble with the law because of his alleged involvement in an illegal gambling ring. According to the lawsuit, Maguire won over $300,000 when he partook in some high stakes poker games with his fellow actors. Apparently not a shabby player himself, Maguire won approximately $1 million during the three years that he was playing.

The Story

It’s not really uncommon to see celebrities taking part in high stakes poker games, but the same cannot be said for illegal poker games. Unfortunately for Maguire, it was these illegal games that he stumbled upon and subsequently joined. He, along with more than a dozen Hollywood celebs, are being sued for their involvement in the said cash games. The games were pretty much similar to the high-roller events that poker professionals play, except that they were – well – illegal. They had to pay $100,000 to get into these games. Also, like the high roller events, there were several high profile celebs who were said to have joined, among them Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and also Leondardo DiCaprio. Several notable Hollywood directors, producers, and businessmen were also included in the game, namely Rick Salomon, Andrew Sasson, Alex Gores, Gabe Kaplan, and several others. What’s even more amazing, however, is that these poker games were actually held twice a week in a certain hotel in Beverly Hills. The amount of money involved is staggering. In fact, they would have probably been better off if they passed through legal avenues and turned the whole thing into some sort of celebrity reality show.

The Lawsuit

Under California Law, persons who play for money at underground poker clubs is illegal, and thereby punishable by law. Maguire’s lawyer, however, insists that the games were not illegal. The problem is that the funds that they ‘played with’ in that poker game were actually the money of other people, investors, in particular. Brad Ruderman, the CEO of Ruderman Capital Partners, is being accused by the FBI of losing $25 million of money gathered from investors through these high stakes poker games. In fact, Ruderman owes Maguire $300,000. As such, the trustee for the company has asked Maguire to return at least that much, seeing as the games were illegal anyway.

Indeed, this foray into the dark side might just cost the Spiderman star quite a bit of trouble and, most probably, a lot of money.