A long courtroom battle between PlayUp and former CEO Dr Laila Mintas has taken a significant development as the case against Mintas was dismissed by a Nevada judge, Gloria Navarro.
As a result, the case will continue with some of Mintas’ claims against PlayUp being taken to trial.
The case stems from the crumbling of PlayUp’s touted takeover of the crypto exchange FTX. Current CEO Daniel Simic had put forward the case that the lucrative deal with FTX fell apart due to the actions of Mintas.
Nonetheless, this notion has been dismissed by the Nevada judge – with Mintas now set to pursue compensation over the allegations.
Navarro stated that none of PlayUp’s case warranted being progressed, whilst she also dismissed an element of Mintas’ counterclaims.
The case had been put forward that Mintas was obstructing the deal through contractual demands, stalling the proposed transaction with FTX, whereas, Mintas claimed that it was the fault of Simic as to why the deal never went through.
The former CEO will now turn her attention to her pursuit of $100m in damages, with her team alleging that Play-Up “falsified documents” and ran a “concerted campaign” against her.
Central to Mintas’ claims is an interview PlayUp attorney Michael Popok gave to Bonus.com, in which he made a myriad of claims against Mintas.
A person familiar with the case told iGaming Expert: “Judge Navarro said in her decision in January 2022 when she dismissed PU’s baseless restraining order against Dr. Mintas after only 3 weeks, that PlayUp made Dr. Mintas the Scapegoat. Now, naturally, Judge Navarro dismissed PlayUp´s entire claims against Dr. Mintas.
“What’s left from this entire case are Dr. Mintas’ counterclaims against Simic personally and PlayUp for around $100 million USD. Those will go to trial and are supported by several expert witnesses’ opinions. As this amount is too high to get decided in a summary judgement process without hearing, Judge Navarro forwarded it to the trial process and then justice will finally succeed.”
We also reached out to PlayUp and Simic but have yet to receive a response.
FTX downfall
Mintas’ tenure as CEO ran from 2019 to 2021 and the touted deal with FTX fell apart in 2022, However, after this, the crypto exchange became embroiled in scandal and subsequently went into bankruptcy with their CEO Sam Bankman-Fried being found guilty of seven charges against him due to his role in the billion dollar collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
He was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, following a unanimous verdict in court.
The downfall of FTX leads to skepticism over whether the deal with Play-Up ever truly had potential. Attorney Damian Williams spoke outside the New York courthouse following the jury announcement – emphasising just how widespread the fraud was: “Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. This kind of fraud, this kind of corruption is as old as time. We have no patience for it.”
