Exploring the Convoluted DraftKings Lawsuit Involvement
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00:00Sam, this is an extremely convoluted story.
00:06It's a convoluted lawsuit.
00:08On social media, there was a convoluted response trying to understand exactly what happened
00:15here.
00:16Is this a legit lawsuit?
00:17Is it not legit?
00:19The people involved, are they legit?
00:22Are they unsavory characters?
00:23I don't know what to make of this entire thing.
00:27I would love for you to tell me your opinion of it, but first, I think we probably should
00:31tell the story as to what this lawsuit is all about, and then we can take it from there.
00:36Yeah, Craig, it essentially involves three very strange parties.
00:40One is the John Doe who filed this lawsuit.
00:43One is a professional gambler named Kadun Kirilos, if I'm saying his last name wrong.
00:50I apologize, but he's commonly known as Spanky in the gambling world.
00:53And then DraftKings, a sports betting company, obviously.
00:57So it's these three parties have been named in this lawsuit.
01:00It accuses Spanky, who fired back this week, kind of telling his side of the story.
01:05It accuses him of extorting a man to pay him half a million dollars, who he allegedly found
01:12using information obtained from higher ups at DraftKings.
01:16The lawsuit accuses Spanky of orchestrating an altercation on a subway platform in Long
01:20Island City, Queens, which is just a stone's throw away from where I am right now across
01:25the river.
01:26The lawsuit, which identifies as John Doe, claims he was approached by a masked man during
01:33his commute into the city, who then threatened to kill him if he didn't pay $500,000 to Spanky.
01:40And then it goes on to say that Spanky allegedly got the information where he would know the
01:45whereabouts of this man in his commute from higher ups at DraftKings who have access to
01:49your personal information as a better Spanky came out on social media this week, saying
01:55that the person who filed the case, an attorney named Steven Jacobs, is actually the John
02:01Doe who is identified in the case, the person who alleges that this extortion happened.
02:07He's an attorney at Herbert Smith and Freehill in New York.
02:10He claims that the two actually met through a mutual friend who then gave Jacobs money
02:16to launch a gambling partnership, what's known as using someone as a beard to place
02:21money at DraftKings without getting limited.
02:23You know, a guy like Spanky, who claims he is banned from many sportsbooks, limited at
02:28many sportsbooks because they won't take his money, his gambling is too good, his information
02:32is too good.
02:33They typically use these guys known as beards where these people aren't limited.
02:38They don't have a history with a sportsbook.
02:40They find them, they give them the money to place bets, they make money, and then they
02:44split the money afterwards.
02:46So Spanky came out and said that he actually won a substantial amount through Jacobs, about
02:52$350,000 in profits, along with $14,000 in bonuses.
02:58And what he says happened, Spanky's side of the story, is that Jacobs tried to withdraw
03:01the money.
03:02He then was hit with a roadblock from DraftKings, which required him to sign some paperwork.
03:07He kind of got cold feet, Spanky says.
03:10Then Spanky tried to figure out what he could do to get this money out of this guy.
03:15He emailed the New York State Gaming Commission, he says, and then uncovered through a FOIA
03:20request that this guy actually withdrew his appeal to the New York State Gaming Commission
03:25to get his money back pretty much as soon as he sent it.
03:27So it's a lot of he said, she said, like you said.
03:30Spanky claims that he tested Jacobs by saying he could get info from DraftKings on the payout
03:36when he's saying, obviously, I can't get that because I'm banned from DraftKings.
03:39I can't get that info.
03:40So it's this weird embezzlement accusation scheme, whether or not this guy was actually
03:44accosted.
03:46We don't have any evidence whether or not, you know, Spanky went to other lengths to
03:50try to get his money back from this guy.
03:52It does seem like there is a mutual acknowledgement that there was some sort of bearding scheme
03:57or using someone to get money from DraftKings through a proxy for Spanky.
04:04So it should be noted that that's illegal in New York.
04:07So you have some people speculating why he would admit to that.
04:10Maybe it's to clear his name from this case.
04:12And it's weird just to see DraftKings involved.
04:14They put out a statement saying, hey, we really have no part in this.
04:17We don't know why we're being sued.
04:19We obviously wouldn't give information to a proxy better to go locate somebody.
04:24So more will come in this weird, weird case, and I'm sure more of it will be very weird
04:29indeed.