If there’s any validity to the legal filing, DraftKings faces some serious scrutiny in New York.
A lawsuit is what DraftKings has to deal with in light of an alleged data breach that allegedly resulted in an assault on one of its customers.
An anonymous plaintiff is listed as John Doe in a lawsuit filed last March in New York Supreme Court in Queens County. The defendant is listed as DraftKings, Inc. – one of nine NY sportsbooks in the state – and is accused of allowing personal data to be stolen, which resulted in a bizarre series of events, the suit says.
Alleged leak of personal info led to assault and extortion
New details of the complaint reveal that John Doe claims he was harassed and assaulted by an unidentified person who “grabbed him, violently spun him around, and threatened to kill him.”
The plaintiff claims the person demanded a $500,000 payment to a professional gambler known as “Spanky,” also known to be a man named Gadoon Kyrollos.
The lawsuit blames DraftKings for allowing the release of John Doe’s personal info, which ultimately aided the assault and alleged extortion.
On Tuesday, Kyrollos took to social media to provide his side of the story, as reported by Legal Sports Report. According to him, the plaintiff is the filing attorney, Steven Jacobs, who Kyrollos claims to be a potential “beard,” a term used for someone used to get bets down at DraftKings Sportsbook NY.
Kyrollos, who denied most of what the lawsuit alleges, continued that Jacobs owes other individuals over $1 million and is “either a sick compulsive gambler or a thief. My bet is on both. Either way he needs help.”
DraftKings has ‘no evidence’ of alleged security breach
DraftKings has vowed to enter a request for dismissal of the suit.
“The complaint filed against DraftKings in March 2024 by an unnamed plaintiff is full of inaccuracies and baseless allegations,” DraftKings wrote in a statement on June 25.
“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 account information to ‘Spanky’ and to additional unnamed third parties.”
Further, DraftKings disputes that any customer data was ever breached or released.
“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.’ Nor has DraftKings uncovered any improper activity by a DraftKings employee, or any activity on plaintiff’s account, relating to the allegedly unauthorized change of the email address associated with plaintiff’s DraftKings account.”
The lawsuit seeks damages in the amount of no less than $1 million, alleging that the supposed assault was the fault of DraftKings and/or one of its sportsbook employees. The suit includes video footage that allegedly depicts the assailant waiting to attack John Doe, and completing the assault.
