London – Poker Player Who Lost Money in Gambling ‘Put Trust in Rabbi’

London – A young professional poker player from Hertfordshire who was said to have lost £700,000 at cards put his trust in a rabbi, a High Court judge has been told.

The rabbi, Simon Nissim, offered to place spread bets for Andrew Feldman on the Dow Jones index and give him any winnings.

But Mr Feldman, 22, who agreed to cover any losses and ended up with a bill for £140,000, is now asking deputy High Court judge Richard Snowden QC to set aside a statutory demand for the money served on him by the 34-year-old rabbi.

Jonathan Lewis representing Mr Feldman at the High Court in London, said the two used to be friends and his client “looked up to and placed trust” in the rabbi.

He said the two had agreed or understood that all wins would go to Mr Feldman and he would indemnify Mr Nissim for all losses.

But while Mr Nissim placed bets for Mr Feldman during two weeks in October 2008, he also placed a “considerable number of spread bets on his own behalf using the same spread betting account”, said Mr Lewis.

Mr Feldman, from Bushey, had argued that he did not accept that all the bets had been placed on his behalf and that he had never authorised the “huge volume” of bets. He said he had agreed to four or five bets a session but Mr Nissim had placed 77 bets in a four-hour period which he had never instructed him to do.

Richard Ritchie, representing Mr Nissim who now works in New York and was not in court, said it was Mr Feldman’s decision to try to win back his poker losses by spread betting and had told Mr Nissim he was prepared to lose up to £200,000.

He said Mr Feldman was now claiming he was ignorant about what was going on and did not stay in close contact with Mr Nissim.

Mr Feldman, speaking after the judge had reserved his ruling to a later date, said he met the rabbi through a Jewish charity in Hendon, north London.