Well what is the hottest topic to come around in quite some time? Well I’d say the Securities and Exchange comission or SEC launching a formal investigation into Doyle Brunson’s “bid” or “offer” to buy the WPT is pretty dam hot! Why is it hot? Poker has seen an absolute explosion in popularity in recent years and the game that is taking thw world by storm is No Limit (NL) Texas Hold’em. Well Doyle Brunson is prett much universally viewed as the best NL Hold’em poker player the world has ever seen. He wrote the Super System books, has 2 WSOP main event bracelets and has likely won more money than he could ever spend.
SEC press release:

SEC FILES SUBPOENA ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST LAWYERS WHO PREPARED
LEGENDARY POKER PLAYER DOYLE BRUNSON’S ABORTED OFFER TO BUY WPT
ENTERPRISES, INC.

On December 14, the Commission filed an action to enforce subpoenas
issued to attorneys David Chesnoff and Chaka Henry of the Las Vegas
firm Goodman & Chesnoff, P.C. The Commission alleges that Henry, on
behalf of Doyle Brunson, prepared and delivered an unsolicited offer
to buy WPT Enterprises, Inc., the publicly traded owner of the World
Poker Tour, at a high premium over its then-market value. Shortly
thereafter, the Commission contends, a public relations firm Brunson
hired, and a website he endorses, announced the offer publicly. The
Commission asserts that publication of this offer, widely covered in
the media, triggered a steep rise in WPT’s stock price on record
trading volume.

As the Commission alleges, however, the Goodman firm and Brunson
immediately stopped responding to WPT’s requests for information about
the offer. Instead, shortly after delivering the offer, the Goodman
firm, at Chesnoff’s instruction, abruptly withdrew from the
engagement. When WPT publicly disclosed Brunson and his law firm’s
unresponsiveness, its stock price sharply declined, costing investors
tens of millions of dollars in lost market value. Brunson’s offer
eventually expired by its terms.

The Commission is formally investigating whether Brunson’s offer and
its publication violated federal securities laws, including the
antifraud provisions of Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. As part of its investigation, the Commission’s
staff subpoenaed documents and testimony from Chesnoff and Henry.
However, Brunson, who has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination and declined to testify in the investigation,
directed the Goodman attorneys to withhold certain documents and not
to testify on critical aspects of the offer, under the attorney-client
privilege and work product doctrine. The Commission’s subpoena
enforcement action seeks to set aside these privileges on various
legal grounds, including the crime-fraud exception, and to compel
Chesnoff and Henry to provide the requested documents and testimony.
[SEC v. David Chesnoff and Chaka Henry, Misc. Action No. 4:05-MC-043-
Y/Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth Division)] (LR-19495)

This investigation has been going on for quite some time. This release is important because it appears the SEC is serious about it!

What allegedly occured was a so-called “pump and dump”. This is where a false public offer is made for a company. What happens is someone makes an offer above what the company is currently worth. Stock traders go into a buying frenzy which pushes the stock price up, the offer falls through, the stock goes back to it’s previous value and you have some very pissed off people because they just spent millions on stock that was artificially inflated. The legal word is fraud!

Nobody is saying Mr. Brunson is guilty last I checked here in the US we are innocent until proven guilty. However it does appear that Doyle will have his day in court.