JonInMiddleGA
12-16-2005, 07:00 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10497836/
Updated: 6:17 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2005
WASHINGTON - U.S. securities regulators said Friday they are formally investigating U.S. poker champion Doyle Brunson's unsolicited $700 million offer in July to buy gaming entertainment group WPT Enterprises Inc.
News of the unsolicited bid, which was nearly double the company's market value, sent WPT's stock price soaring more than 50 percent in one day to an intraday high of $29.50.
The price then rapidly fell after the company said it was not able to reach Brunson or his attorneys for further information on the bid, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offer later expired.
...
The SEC said it is investigating whether Brunson's offer and its publication violated anti-fraud laws.
Brunson, who is one of the best-known professional poker players in the United States, has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to testify in the investigation, the SEC said.
The agency said Brunson directed the two attorneys (lawyers Brunson used to make the offer & who are now under subpeona by the SEC).to withhold certain documents and not to testify on critical aspects of the offer, under the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine, which generally protects materials prepared by a lawyer in anticipation of litigation.
Updated: 6:17 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2005
WASHINGTON - U.S. securities regulators said Friday they are formally investigating U.S. poker champion Doyle Brunson's unsolicited $700 million offer in July to buy gaming entertainment group WPT Enterprises Inc.
News of the unsolicited bid, which was nearly double the company's market value, sent WPT's stock price soaring more than 50 percent in one day to an intraday high of $29.50.
The price then rapidly fell after the company said it was not able to reach Brunson or his attorneys for further information on the bid, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offer later expired.
...
The SEC said it is investigating whether Brunson's offer and its publication violated anti-fraud laws.
Brunson, who is one of the best-known professional poker players in the United States, has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to testify in the investigation, the SEC said.
The agency said Brunson directed the two attorneys (lawyers Brunson used to make the offer & who are now under subpeona by the SEC).to withhold certain documents and not to testify on critical aspects of the offer, under the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine, which generally protects materials prepared by a lawyer in anticipation of litigation.