The reputation of the World Series of Poker is under fire since the filing of a lawsuit by several top-ranking poker players claiming the tournament is doing them wrong. Now, adding to the poker industry's legal mumbo jumbo are yet even more court cases. Not directly reflecting on the reputation of the World Series of Poker, but more interesting than anything else, are the recent court cases involving tournament finalists, Jamie Gold and Richard Lee.

In separate, non-associated incidents, both men are being investigated by authorities stemming from accusations of broken contracts and illegal online casino gambling rings. While Gold is at the heart of a recently filed lawsuit from a friend, Lee is at the heart of what appears to be an illegal internet betting ring he was running out of his home.

According to a San Antonio police report, Lee's home was raided with a search warrant on Thursday night, earlier this week. After spending hours gathering possible evidence, a total of five luxury cars, numerous plasma televisions, a cash counting machine and deposit receipts of large cash amounts (some exceeding half a million dollars) were pooled up and taken for further investigation, which is now sure to keep moving forward.

Spanning several months, the investigation procured a warrant, which was issued when authorities became confident that Lee was the mastermind of a large online gambling ring, and was using his own home as the "nerve center" of the organization. A San Antonio Police spokesperson referred to the gambling operation as the biggest in San Antonio. Owing to the fact that the alleged casino gambling and poker activities were taking place on the internet, the amount of business being done was exponential when compared to an illegal land-based gambling ring.

As for Gold, his situation is not so much of an illegal activity, although it could be in the eyes of Crispin Leyser, who says that Gold promised him he would share his winnings 50/50 with Leyser if Gold won the tournament, which he did. Leyser is claiming that him and Gold agreed on a deal that would allow Gold to have Bodog online casino and sportsbook cover the $10,000 buy-in to the high-stakes poker tournament.

Leyser claims that Gold said Bodog would pay his buy-in if he could find some recognizable celebrities to enter the tournament and wear Bodog apparel for advertising purposes.  Gold, in turn, approached Leyser, who supposedly has connections with many celebrities, and agreed that if Leyser secured the celebrities and Gold was able to get into the tournament - if he won - he would split the pot with Leyser. In the meantime, all of Gold's rightful $12 million are being held at the Rio Casino cashier until further notice, and pending further status of the lawsuit.