There has been a sensational twist in the US case of PlayUp Inc v Dr Leila Mintas, the one in which the Australian corporate bookmaker Playup – which owns the old Mad Bookie, Top Betta and Classic Bet – is suing it’s former US CEO for a stack.
PlayUp reckons Dr Mintas sabotaged a $450 million sale of the company and caused it to fall over, in retaliation for the company not renewing her contract.
The internationally renowned gaming industry leader Mintas says that it’s bullshit, and that the sale fell over because the PlayUp chiefs – in particular the Australia CEO Daniel Simic – tried to cut dodgy side deals on top of the $450 million to enrich themselves to the tune of 60 odd million bucks at the expense of the company’s shareholders, and that the buyers got wise and booted them.
It’s got all the elements of a ripper this one, with sensational allegations flying both ways, and the case being all over the gaming media.
Well it’s just got better.
Dr Mintas has lodge a counter-claim, and it’s contents are explosive.
The Doc swears on the bible that false affidavits have been dodgied up and filed as evidence, that Simic and the company have perjured themselves in their testimony, that vital evidence has been deliberately withheld from the judge, and most seriously, that PlayUp have committed a fraud on the US District Court.
These of course are only allegations made by Dr Mintas herself, but they sure are sensational ones, that if proven could result in Simic and perhaps others being referred by the court for criminal prosecution on charges that are punishable by long prison terms if there was a finding made of guilt.
The former CEO says that “PlayUp’s improper actions” leading to the collapse of the deal “were undertaken in bad faith and with the intention to wrongly blame Dr. Mintas for destroying the deal with FTX and destroying her reputation in the industry so they can cover up their attempted fraud against the shareholders”.
She also claims that the company “abused and manipulated the legal process and had an ulterior motive for bringing the original case against her” which was “to improperly put the blame on her so it could conceal it’s scheme”, that scheme she says being attempting to add an extra condition to the sale deal that the buyer had to purchase a dormant company that Play Up’s directors owned for tens of millions that it wasn’t worth, and that the buyer had to pay $50 million in salaries and bonuses to retain the services of certain people allegedly employed as PlayUp executives – including Australian CEO Simic’s brother – when they either weren’t working for the company, or were earning a fraction of their claimed salaries if they were.
PlayUp and Simic of course refute the allegations in full.
They call it “the classic tale of a rogue former employee who, unable to extract favorable employment and compensation terms at the end of her employment contract in the face of the company’s possible acquisition, launched an unrelenting but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to destroy the company, and tank its client, investor, and customer relationships”.
Playup claims that Mintas tried “to torture the Company and its executives”, that the Doc “launched (a) two-pronged attack to hold the Company hostage until she got what she wanted”, and that she had a “revenge fantasy” that went wrong.
Their words, not mine.
Like I said, this case is an absolute ripper.
We will continue to report on it’s progress.
For those interested, we have added a few of the court filings containing the sensational claims to our website.
You can access them at this link here https://peterprofit.com/playup-inc-v-dr-laila-mintas-court-documents/