The Poker Bus

Doyle Brunson’s run in with the law

On July 8th 2005, WPT Enterprises (WPTE) stock shot up 49% to $26.50. This happened right after news was released that poker superstar, Doyle Brunson bid $700 million to take over the WPT. Since then the stock prices have declined due to the credibility of his offer.

This looks like a “pump and dump” scheme. Doyle made an outrageously high bid to hype up the price of the stock. The stock rises up a huge amount, much more then it’s worth. Then all the insiders, knowing what’s going to happen, sell the stock at this inflated price making a bundle of money.

The SEC said this event cost WPTE investors, “tens of millions of dollars in lost market value”.

On Friday December 16th the SEC declared they would be investigating this issue. They said that Doyle’s law firm, Goodman law, immediately stopped responding to the WPT’s request for more information about the offer. Doyle hasn’t responded to any of these accusations yet due to his protection under the 5th amendment.

You can view the official statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission here www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr19495.htm.