The multi-year legal battle between Australian gaming company PlayUp and its former U.S. CEO Laila Mintas hit an important milestone when a Nevada District Court judge issued a ruling dismissing all of the initial complaint against Mintas.
The ruling comes a week after a similar decision in the Australian courts over the same matter.
The lawsuits came about when an attempted acquisition of PlayUp by the now-bankrupt crypto hedge fund FTX fell apart. PlayUp alleged it was Mintas who crashed the deal on purpose and filed suit in 2021. Mintas said CEO Daniel Simic was to blame for the $460 million deal’s collapse.
Since then, there has been a series of legal battles including a countersuit from Mintas alleging that PlayUp and Simic breached contract, failed to properly pay her and defamed her name.
Judge says Mintas can seek damages on some issues
Judge Gloria Navarro concluded that none of PlayUp’s allegation merited moving forward and dismissed them. She also rejected some of Mintas’s counterclaims, including abuse of process, fraud and unjust enrichment.
However, several of Mintas’s claims will be moving forward to trial, where Mintas will be eligible to seek damages. At the heart of these claims are an interview PlayUp attorney Michael Popok gave to Bonus.com making inflammatory claims about Mintas, as well as comments allegedly made by Simic around Mintas’s performance at social gatherings and on WhatsApp.
Charges regarding Mintas’s compensation, which included both stock in PlayUp in addition to her salary, are also moving forward. She is seeking $100 million in damages.
PlayUp US closed in 2023 after NJ license revoked
“Judge Navarro said in her decision in January 2022, when she dismissed PlayUp’s baseless restraining order against Dr. Mintas after only three week,s that PlayUp made Dr. Mintas the scapegoat. Now, naturally, Judge Navarro dismissed PlayUp’s entire claims against Dr. Mintas,” a source close to the case told SBC Americas.
SBC Americas also reached out to PlayUp and Simic but has yet to receive a response.
Mintas was in charge of PlayUp’s U.S. division, which shuttered after her departure. In summer 2023, the company abruptly stopped taking wagers in Colorado and New Jersey amid rumors it was unable to make payroll. New Jersey regulators went so far as to suspend the company’s license in the state.
