A Queens man claims he’s at the center of a $500,000 extortion plot aided by DraftKings.
In the Queens County filing obtained by SBC Americas, the anonymous complainant claims he was threatened by a masked man near his Long Island City dwelling in March 2023, who “grabbed him, violently spun him around, and threatened to kill him if he did not pay half a million dollars” to professional gambler Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos.
According to the suit, security footage shows the masked assailant waited more than three hours to accost John Doe.
He says DraftKings “provided Plaintiff’s address, as well as Plaintiff’s sensitive personal information, financial history and betting history” to Kyrollos — despite being told his account was given enhanced security — which led to the street encounter.
“DraftKings loaded the proverbial gun, and put it in Spanky’s hand,” the filing reads. “Plaintiff’s life was never the same.”
DraftKings is moving to dismiss the suit, which does not name Kyrollos as a defendant.
“The complaint filed against DraftKings in March 2024 by an unnamed plaintiff is full of inaccuracies and baseless allegations,” a spokesperson told The Post. “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.
“DraftKings has found no evidence of anyone at DraftKings providing the 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. DraftKings is moving to dismiss the complaint by June 28.”
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The plaintiff is seeking $1 million in damages from DraftKings, as well as punitive damages, interest and attorney’s fees.
