Tobey Maguire, others settle over poker winnings (AP)

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer Anthony Mccartney, Ap Entertainment Writer – 14?mins?ago

LOS ANGELES – Tobey Maguire has decided to fold `em and settle a lawsuit over his winnings from a convicted con man during high-stakes Hollywood poker games.

The "Spider-Man" star agreed to pay $80,000 to settle the lawsuit filed over more than $311,000 he was paid by a convicted Ponzi scheme operator in Texas Hold `Em matches that included celebrities, businessmen and others, court documents state.

If approved by a judge next month, Maguire will pay the money to a bankruptcy trustee who is trying to recoup money that former hedge fund operator Bradley Ruderman bilked from investors to finance his lavish lifestyle.

The money will be used to repay victims of the scheme, which Maguire and other players were unaware of.

Court records show that 14 of the 22 people sued to recoup poker winnings have settled their cases. Howard Ehrenberg, the bankruptcy trustee who sued the group, said Monday the poker settlements total more than $1.7 million.

Ehrenberg said Maguire's payout to resolve the case is in the same range as others who agreed to settlements.

"He did not end up with any better settlement than the others," Ehrenberg said.

Maguire's settlement states he "strongly disputes that he violated any laws, rules or regulations in regard to participating in the poker games" but was agreeing to the payment to avoid fighting the case, which would be costly.

The actor signed the settlement on Nov. 22 and it was filed a day later with a bankruptcy court handling the lawsuits.

The trustee alleged Maguire and others had no right to keep their winnings from the unlicensed poker games held at upscale hotels and private residences. Maguire and others have denied there was anything improper about the matches.

In court filings, Maguire noted that he lost $168,500 to Ruderman, who is currently serving a 10 year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of investment adviser fraud and willful failure to file taxes.

Several of those sued are fighting the cases, most notably actor-director Nick Cassavetes. His attorney has said the games were not illegal and the statute of limitations has long passed for pursuing any criminal charges for the games held between 2006 and 2009.

Ehrenberg said he expects the remaining cases will be resolved before trial.

Filings show that billionaire Alec Gores and "Welcome Back, Kotter" star and poker aficionado Gabe Kaplan have also settled cases filed against them.

Gores, who along with his brother attempted to buy Miramax films last year, has agreed to pay $49,908 to settle a $445,500 lawsuit over Ruderman's poker payments.

Kaplan has agreed to pay $26,900 after he was sued to try to recoup nearly $63,000 in winnings.

Ehrenberg filed the lawsuits in late March, attempting to recoup money on behalf of people who invested in the scheme by Ruderman.

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Apple, Qualcomm, others eye InterDigital: sources (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Apple Inc, Nokia and Qualcomm Inc are among several technology companies pondering bids for InterDigital Inc, sources familiar with the situation said.

The auction of the wireless telecoms specialist -- expected to be heavily contested as tech giants fight to shore up patent portfolios -- will be postponed from next week to after Labor Day, the sources said.

Google Inc has not formally withdrawn from the auction but it is unclear whether the Internet giant will bid for the company, the sources told Reuters.

Shares in Interdigital, which has a market value of about $3 billion, leapt as much as 12.2 percent on the news. But it quickly backtracked and was up 7 percent at $68.70 in early afternoon trade.

InterDigital is up for sale and is forging ahead with its auction, despite key potential bidder Google agreeing to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion. That triggered a 23 percent drop in InterDigital's shares that day.

First-round bids have been postponed as bidders asked for more time to complete due diligence on the company's patents, sources said.

To make up for that delay, the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based company expects to accelerate the second round, the sources said.

Google's presence in the auction is crucial to how much InterDigital can fetch, an analyst said.

Strategically, if Google is not seen as a counter bidder in the auction, this will give prospective buyers a reason not to go aggressive, one source close to the matter said.

"The problem InterDigital has is that Elvis has left the building. He's got his date," Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff said, referring to Google.

Modoff also questioned whether any other technology companies need InterDigital enough to pay the high price at which its shares are currently trading.

He noted that Qualcomm already has a good portfolio of patents, and so may not want to pay up for the business.

"The problem is finding somebody else to whom it's necessary." Modoff said. "It could get acquired but not at where the stock is at (now)."

InterDigital declined to comment. The other potential bidders were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Nadia Damouni; editing by John Wallace and Gunna Dickson)

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Poll: Obesity hits more boomers than others in US (AP)

WASHINGTON – Baby boomers say their biggest health fear is cancer. Given their waistlines, heart disease and diabetes should be atop that list, too. Boomers are more obese than other generations, a new poll finds, setting them up for unhealthy senior years.

And for all the talk of "60 is the new 50" and active aging, even those who aren't obese need to do more to stay fit, according to the Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll.

Most baby boomers say they get some aerobic exercise, the kind that revs up your heart rate, at least once a week. But most adults are supposed to get 2 1/2 hours a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity — things like a brisk walk, a dance class, pushing a lawn mower. Only about a quarter of boomers polled report working up a sweat four or five times a week, what the average person needs to reach that goal.

Worse, 37 percent never do any of the strength training so crucial to fighting the muscle loss that comes with aging.

Walking is their most frequent form of exercise. The good news: Walk enough and the benefits add up.

"I have more energy, and my knees don't hurt anymore," says Maggie Sanders, 61, of Abbeville, S.C. She has lost 15 pounds by walking four miles, three times a week, over the past few months, and eating better.

More boomers need to heed that feel-good benefit. Based on calculation of body mass index from self-reported height and weight, roughly a third of the baby boomers polled are obese, compared with about a quarter of both older and younger responders. Only half of the obese boomers say they are are regularly exercising.

An additional 36 percent of boomers are overweight, though not obese.

The nation has been bracing for a surge in Medicare costs as the 77 million baby boomers, the post-war generation born from 1946 to 1964, begin turning 65. Obesity — with its extra risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis — will further fuel those bills.

"They're going to be expensive if they don't get their act together," says Jeff Levi of the nonprofit Trust for America's Health. He points to a study that found Medicare pays 34 percent more on an obese senior than one who's a healthy weight.

About 60 percent of boomers polled say they're dieting to lose weight, and slightly more are eating more fruits and vegetables or cutting cholesterol and salt.

But it takes physical activity, not just dieting, to shed pounds. That's especially important as people start to age and dieting alone could cost them precious muscle in addition to fat, says Jack Rejeski of Wake Forest University, a specialist in exercise and aging.

Whether you're overweight or just the right size, physical activity can help stave off the mobility problems that too often sneak up on the sedentary as they age. Muscles gradually become flabbier until people can find themselves on the verge of disability and loss of independence, like a canoe that floats peacefully until it gets too near a waterfall to pull back, Rejeski says.

He led a study that found a modest weight loss plus walking 2 1/2 hours a week helped people 60 and older significantly improve their mobility. Even those who didn't walk that much got some benefit. Try walking 10 minutes at a time two or three times a day, he suggests, and don't wait to start.

"I don't think there's any question the earlier you get started, the better," says Rejeski, who at 63 has given up running in favor of walking, and gets in 30 miles a week. "If you allow your mobility to decline, you pay for it in terms of the quality of your own life."

When it comes to diseases, nearly half of boomers polled worry most about cancer. The second-leading killer, cancer does become more common with aging.

"It's the unknown nature, that it can come up without warning," says Harry Forsha, 64, of Clearwater, Fla., and Mill Spring, N.C.

Heart disease is the nation's No. 1 killer, but it's third in line on the boomers' worry list. Memory loss is a bigger concern.

"On a scale of one to 10, seven or eight," is how Barry Harding, 61, of Glen Burnie, Md., puts it. "It's more talked about now, Alzheimer's and dementia."

In fact, more than half of boomers polled say they regularly do mental exercises such as crossword puzzles.

After Harding retires, he plans to take classes to keep mentally active. For now, he's doing the physical exercise that's important for brain health, too. He also takes fish oil, a type of fatty acid that some studies suggest might help prevent mental decline.

Sanders, the South Carolina woman, says it was hard to make fitness a priority in her younger years.

"When you're younger, you just don't see how important it is," says Sanders, whose weight began creeping up when breast cancer in her 40s sapped her energy. Now, "I just know that my lifestyle had to change."

The AP-LifeGoesStrong.com poll was conducted from June 3-12 by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, Calif., and involved online interviews with 1,416 adults, including 1,078 baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964. The margin of sampling error for results from the full sample is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points; for the boomers, it is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Knowledge Networks used traditional telephone and mail sampling methods to randomly recruit respondents. People selected who had no Internet access were given it free.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington. AP Writer Stacy A. Anderson, AP Polling Director Trevor Tompson, Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

Online:

http://health.lifegoesstrong.com/heart-vs-cancer

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