White Lotus Fans Caught A Plot Hole In Belinda’s Season 3 Arc

Spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3 ahead. Tragic as The White Lotus’ third season finale was, at least one visitor’s fortunes seemed changed for the better. Spa manager Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell) checked out with an extra $5 million in her bank account, having accepted hush money from Greg Hunt (Jon Gries). Yet, fans are questioning the tax implications of accepting such a large sum of money, which seems to reveal a major plot hole in her storyline.

Bribes And Taxes

Following the finale, one curious fan started a thread on Reddit, saying, “I’m no tax lawyer but I know you can’t put 5M in somebody’s bank account without the IRS coming calling. How would she get away with this?”

As numerous fans commented, many were wondered the same thing. Some assumed the money would be considered a taxable gift and correctly pointed out that the IRS holds the gift giver responsible for those taxes, not the recipient. Still, there was (understandably) a lot of confusion over the intricacies of tax law and how it would apply.

Luckily, Victoria J. Haneman, a professor of trusts and estates at Creighton University School of Law, offered her legal expertise. In a multipart Threads post, she agreed that Belinda and Greg (aka Gary) would treat the bribe as a gift to avoid questions, though it should be “characterized as compensation in exchange for services” (his money for her silence).

Haneman confirmed that Greg would be the one on the hook for the gift tax. “Gary/Greg needs to file a gift tax return to report the gift,” she wrote. “The Italian authorities want to question him about his wife’s death and he is in hiding, but this is no excuse to not file the gift tax return. He has the resources to have someone in the U.S. file the return for him and then relocate to a different exotic location.”

Raising Questions

Fans did point out on Reddit that Greg is involved in enough shady dealings to potentially know how to avoid paying taxes, but it does sound likely that the payment to Belinda wouldn’t go unnoticed by the authorities. Haneman explained that such large gifts can arouse suspicion — and more so if there isn’t a clear tie between the two people. “We are (justifiably) suspicious of extravagant gift giving when it does not involve family or romantic partners,” she added, in part.

If the authorities did indeed notice the payment, they could make the connection between Greg and Belinda and do more digging into how their paths crossed. It might not be Belinda’s problem, but it does seem like an issue for Greg — not to mention a plot hole.

More To Explore?

Another possibility is that The White Lotus creator Mike White and the writers were laying the groundwork for a future season. Both Rothwell and Gries recently told The Hollywood Reporter they are open to more, and Rothwell shared some ideas about what’s next for Belinda.

“I think she’s trying to adjust into this upper echelon of society,” she said. “You get out of Dodge pretty quick. She’s worried about being pursued by Greg, and so I think she wants to go off-grid perhaps. Maybe she’ll go by her middle name.”