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With slightly longer hair (a la Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights) and a finely-tuned bod, Ben Affleck took his girls for lunch Saturday at Shutters in Santa Monica.

Recent reports have accused Affleck of being involved in an illegal gambling ring now targeted by a class action lawsuit on behalf of investors claiming their money was lost by a banker running a Ponzi scheme, playing with their dough at celeb-studded poker games.

Was yesterday's lunch perhaps a gesture of good-will toward wife Jennifer Garner? Further accounts of the gambling operation report "massage girls" and other unsavory characters held court with the group as they played card games with a $10K minimum buy-in.

You think Jen knew what was going on when Ben left the house at night?