{"id":315109,"date":"2024-03-22T18:30:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T23:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=315109"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:33:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T16:33:55","slug":"186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Some 186 DraftKings Employees Seek Transition to Fanatics, Report Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since sportswear retailer Fanatics branched out into sports betting in 2021, 186 DraftKings employees have applied to jump ship and join new the Fanatics sportsbook. That\u2019s according to a filing this week to a federal court in Boston by lawyers for Michael Hermalyn<\/a>, the former DraftKings executive accused of corporate espionage<\/a> by his ex-employer.<\/p>\n

\"Michael
Michael Herlmalyn, above, has been accused by DraftKings of corporate espionage. Hermalyn\u2019s lawyers did not mince their words in a new filing to a Boston courtroom this week. (Image: DraftKings)a<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DraftKings sued Hermalyn, its former SVP of VIP, in February. Its lawsuit claims he plotted for over a year to join Fanatics, taking with him confidential information about DraftKings\u2019 VIP clients, along with its Super Bowl business plan.<\/p>\n

DraftKings also accuses Hermalyn of \u201csoliciting\u201d two of its employees to switch to Fanatics after he joined the company.<\/p>\n

Last week, DraftKings filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. If granted, it would prevent Hermalyn working for Fanatics for the duration of a noncompete clause in his DraftKings contract.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Noncompete clauses are unenforceable in California, where Hermalyn now works and resides, regardless of whether the contract was signed outside of California.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Hermalyn and Fanatics do not mince their words in a motion to dismiss the injunction request this week.<\/p>\n

\u2018Culture of Retribution\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

They accuse DraftKings of \u201cliberally distorting reality\u201d and of engaging in the \u201ccharacter assignation\u201d of its former employee.<\/p>\n

The 186 DraftKings employees who tried to join Fanatics had nothing to do with Hermalyn and everything to do with those employees \u201cattempting to flee a culture of retribution,\u201d the filing claimed.<\/p>\n

Trying to halt this trend, DK attempts to make an example out of Hermalyn, transparently to instill fear in other DK employees looking to jump ship and halt lawful recruiting activity by Fanatics. The Court should not be misled by DK\u2019s bombast and smoke and mirrors, and should deny DK\u2019s requested [preliminary injunction],\u201d <\/strong>the motion warns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moreover, the two employees Hermalyn allegedly solicited \u201crepeatedly reached out to Hermalyn, not the other way around, less than 24-hours after Hermalyn had started at Fanatics, or, consistent with that, that Hermalyn only responded to questions,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n

In terms of \u201cstealing trade secrets,\u201d the filing notes that DraftKings does not claim that it has lost a single customer to Fanatics, and therefore has failed to show it suffered any actual harm as a result of Hermalyn\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

\u2018Outrageous Claims\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, DK\u2019s allegation that Hermalyn downloaded documents on a \u201cnon-DK device\u201d was \u201coutrageous,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n

DraftKings did not tell the court that it does not supply its employees with work phones, or that the \u201cnon-DK device\u201d was Hermalyn\u2019s own personal phone that he used to view the documents as part of his work for DraftKings. He was fully authorized to do this, the filing claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence shows that Hermalyn did nothing wrong. DK\u2019s brazen attempts to torch Hermalyn\u2019s reputation by mischaracterizing so-called \u2018evidence\u2019 is consistent with DK\u2019s go-to playbook. Indeed, DK has a long history of aggressively smearing employees who leave or seek greener pastures with other employers,\u201d Hermalyn\u2019s lawyers argued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since sportswear retailer Fanatics branched out into sports betting in 2021, 186 DraftKings employees have applied to jump ship and join new the Fanatics sportsbook. That\u2019s according to a filing this week to a federal court in Boston by lawyers for Michael Hermalyn, the former DraftKings executive accused of corporate espionage by his ex-employer. DraftKings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":311472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,84511,1074],"tags":[89956,81842,82563,89798],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n186 DraftKings Workers Applied to Switch to Fanatics, Filing Claims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DraftKings\u2019 former SVP of VIP, Michael Hermalyn, now of Fanatics, does not mince words in \u2018corporate espionage\u2019 court filing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"186 DraftKings Workers Applied to Switch to Fanatics, Filing Claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DraftKings\u2019 former SVP of VIP, Michael Hermalyn, now of Fanatics, does not mince words in \u2018corporate espionage\u2019 court filing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-22T23:30:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-25T16:33:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Mike.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/\",\"name\":\"186 DraftKings Workers Applied to Switch to Fanatics, Filing Claims\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Mike.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-22T23:30:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-25T16:33:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"DraftKings\u2019 former SVP of VIP, Michael Hermalyn, now of Fanatics, does not mince words in \u2018corporate espionage\u2019 court filing.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/186-draftkings-workers-applied-to-switch-to-fanatics-since-2021-filing-claims\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Mike.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Mike.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":618,\"caption\":\"Michael Herlmalyn, above, has been accused by DraftKings of corporate espionage. 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