Several New York suit.
The plaintiff, according to the lawsuit, received disturbing warnings in March 2023 with threats on his life unless he paid a six-figure sum to Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos, one of the nation’s most recognizable sports bettors. According to the lawsuit, several DraftKings staff provided the plaintiff’s address, sports betting history, personal information, and financial history to Kyrollos.
Under the lawsuit, the plaintiff states he allegedly began being extorted that February by Kyrollos, who claimed he was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. On March 30, 2023, the plaintiff claims he was approached by a “masked man” on a subway platform in Long Island City at approximately 8:45 a.m. ET. The man allegedly grabbed a hold of the plaintiff, spun him, and threatened to kill him unless he paid $500,000 to Kyrollos, the plaintiff alleged. Attorneys for the plaintiff claim there is video evidence of the man standing outside their client’s apartment for several hours before the alleged altercation.
Described in the lawsuit as “John Doe,” the plaintiff initially sought damages in Supreme Court, Queens County, for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and abetting assault and battery. The plaintiff also reported the incident to the New York Police Department, according to Next.io, which first reported the story on Tuesday. In April, the lawsuit was moved to federal court under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York.
DraftKings previously requested that the Court dismiss the claims, citing what it deemed baseless allegations. A DraftKings spokesman provided Sports Handle with a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
“In the complaint, the plaintiff does not identify any DraftKings employee, but rather alleges on ‘information and belief’ that an unknown and unidentified DraftKings employee provided private information to ‘Spanky’ and to additional unnamed third parties,” the statement reads. “DraftKings has found no evidence of anyone at DraftKings providing plaintiff’s information to a third-party, and DraftKings denies acknowledging any such “security breach”.
Violence in sports betting 2q641s
According to the complaint obtained by Sports Handle, DraftKings worked with Kyrollos to “severely harass and endanger” the plaintiff, according to the allegations. In addition, the plaintiff accused DraftKings of refusing to provide any information regarding the incidents in which it claimed the operator played a “significant part.” In response, DraftKings argued that it cannot be held responsible for “torts of employees” acting outside the scope of their employment.
Furthermore, the company asserts that there is no factual to make the claim that DraftKings divulged the plaintiff’s information with the “deliberate intent of aiding” in the assault.
In a 20-page complaint, DraftKings loaded the “proverbial gun,” and put it in Spanky’s hand, the plaintiffs allege. More than a year since the alleged altercation, the plaintiff is still suffering severe emotional distress, according to the lawsuit.
Since then, he has discussed the death threats with a mental health professional. The incident has caused him trouble sleeping, and he is terrified whenever there is a knock on the door, the suit reads. Simply put, the plaintiff’s life “has not been the same.”
Sports Handle obtained a copy of the lawsuit on Tuesday afternoon.
As U.S. sports betting proliferates, the topic of personal safekeeping from violent threats has predictably received extensive coverage in recent months. At a player protection symposium in May, NCAA Managing Director Mark Hicks detailed how the association has dealt with elevated levels of athlete harassment online. During March Madness, Hicks indicated that the NCAA documented about 50,000 incidents of harassment against players, about 4,000 of which were referred to law enforcement or a portal tracking such cases. Of those, approximately half the cases had some connection to sports betting.
In 2021, a professional sports bettor received a sentence of 36 months probation in connection with a series of threats he made to professional and college athletes. The bettor, Benjamin Patz, sent menacing notes to four Tampa Bay Rays players, warning that he planned to “sever” their necks and dismember their family alive.
In another incident that Ohio went live with legal sports betting.
Kyrollos is the host of BetBash, a popular Las Vegas sports betting conference held annually each summer. A voice message left on a cellphone belonging to Kyrollos went unanswered on Tuesday morning.
DraftKings has not uncovered improper activities by any of its employees, nor has it unearthed any untoward activity on the plaintiff’s , according to the company’s statement. DraftKings is moving to dismiss the complaint by June 28.
