A bizarre lawsuit that started last April has been allowed to go ahead. DraftKings is being sued after it was alleged that the gambling company leaked information to extort one of its VIPs.
Steven Jacobs has claimed that he was targeted by a professional gambler, Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos, after DraftKings leaked his information to him. These apparently included being threatened in person and harassed.
Last year, Jacobs – then anonymous – claimed a masked man threatened Jacobs at his home, demanding $500,000 be paid to Kyrollos. Sometime after this incident, Kyrollos posted to X, formerly Twitter, explaining and outing Jacobs as the anonymous John Doe in the lawsuit.
Kyrollos claims that he has no power to do what’s been alleged, as he’s “banned from betting” with Draft Kings. He also claims that he was “bluffing” when he said he was going to get Jacobs’s information from DraftKings.
What Kyrollos does is bet via proxy, using people like Jacobs to wager for them and settle up after the fact. Kyrollos also claims that Jacobs owes “over a million dollars… to other people.”
DraftKings extortion suit set for court over bluffs
However, it’s Kyrollos’ threat of connecting with DraftKings staff that he still has contact with that’s the catalyst for the lawsuit. As “bluffing” actually came to fruition, Judge Natasha C. Merle has decided that because DraftKings didn’t do anything to prevent this, it’s worth going to trial:
“While plaintiff has not alleged exactly how Spanky or the masked man obtained his personal information, plaintiff has alleged that he put defendant on notice of potential criminal activity to gain access to plaintiff’s information, which then allegedly came to fruition.
“The court finds the inference that DraftKings knew of this potential and failed to act to safeguard that information reasonable based on these allegations. Accordingly, plaintiff has sufficiently pled claims against DraftKings for aiding and abetting assault and battery.”
