Gold Square Gets $450,000 Judgment in Embezzlement Case

A civil judgment entered in a New Jersey court Aug. 28 requires Joe Hardoon and his father Jonathan Hardoon to pay Al Gold's Gold Square $450,000 following theft allegations against the younger Hardoon while acting as Gold Square's bookkeeper. The judgment was entered by agreement of the parties and comes in the wake of media reports of trouble between Gold and Joe Hardoon first reported in the Asbury Park Press. According to that report, Hardoon admitted wrongdoing to Gold. A complaint filed in March by Gold Square in the Superior Court of Monmouth County, New Jersey, says Joe Hardoon, while employed as Gold Square's bookkeeper, embezzled at least 55 checks totaling $314,000. The checks represented purse and breeding incentive payments distributed to Gold Square by tracks and incentive funds located in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The only allegations against the elder Hardoon, said in the complaint to have been a friend of Gold's for many years when he asked Gold about employing his son, were that the younger Hardoon unlawfully transferred ownership of two Gold Square race horses to his father after he was fired in 2024. Both men agreed to be jointly and severally liable for payment of the judgment, which includes attorney fees and court costs. Signed by Judge Kathleen A. Sheedy Aug. 27, the judgment requires Gold Square to receive from the Hardoons payments of $50,000 within five days, another $150,000 within 10 days, and $20,000 every six months starting in December "until the entire judgment balance of $450,000.00 has been fully satisfied." To partially secure payment, the Hardoons are within five days to grant Gold Square a mortgage securing $250,000 on a property located on Sicada Street in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., subject only to liens and encumbrances existing of record at this time. The property is described as a town home with an estimated value between $650,000 and $700,000 at zillow.com and realtor.com. According to court records, Joseph Hardoon is also facing a charge of theft by unlawful taking in New Jersey. In lieu of an arrest he was served with a summons to appear before a judge Sept. 30. No disposition of that case has been made on the public record. At age 24 Joe Hardoon signed as agent when Gold Square bought Cyberknife in 2020. He also signed for Full Count Felicia, Instant Coffee, and Howard Wolowitz. According to Equibase records, Cyberknife earned $2,137,520 in purses before his retirement. Howard Wolowitz is still racing and has earned $1,349,960 to date, most of it last year at Kentucky Downs where he is scheduled to run Aug. 30 in the $2 million Kentucky Turf Sprint Stakes (G2T).