temporary restraining order<\/a> against Mintas and is seeking a preliminary injunction. That would prevent her from breaking confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses that were in her contract for the duration of the trial.<\/p>\nUS District Judge Gloria Navarro will hold a hearing in the case next Monday.<\/p>\n
Mintas Claims Omitted Emails Reveal Truth<\/h2>\n According to Mintas\u2019 response, FTX apparently agreed to buy PlayUp for $450 million, based on the strength of its US operations and the potential for growth in the country.<\/p>\n
However, she said Simic became \u201cgreedy\u201d and decided to raise the price by asking FTX to pay another $65 million to retain key personnel and $105 million for PlayChip, a cryptocurrency geared for the gaming industry established by Simic and other Australian PlayUp leaders.<\/p>\n
Besides the 25-page response, Mintas also included 120 pages of supporting documentation. That featured several emails, including a couple of messages Mintas said the company omitted from its lawsuit against her.<\/p>\n
That includes a Nov. 24 email from Ramnik Arora, head of product at FTX, to Simic and PlayUp Global CTO and cofounder Michael Costa. In that email, Arora told the PlayUp officials that FTX opted against the purchase because of four key concerns.<\/p>\n
Those concerns included that key personnel from the US operations were not part of PlayUp\u2019s future plans, an apparent \u201cmistrust and lack of communication\u201d between the global and US operations, and global leadership\u2019s conflicts of interest with initiatives like PlayChip.<\/p>\n
\u201cFTX did not pass on the deal because Dr. Mintas disparaged PlayUp, but because Simic made unreasonable and unethical demands,\u201d<\/strong> Mintas said in her response.<\/p>\nAfter the Nov. 24 email from FTX, Mintas said she tried to salvage the deal. But that meant she would need to replace Simic as the company\u2019s global leader.<\/p>\n
Becoming Global CEO Only Way to Salvage FTX Deal<\/h2>\n Internal emails Mintas provided show that the relationship between Mintas and other company leaders began to unravel after FTX\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
In an email dated Nov. 25, Mintas revealed that she was in conversations with FTX. She added that she had recently learned that Simic was \u201cblacklisted\u201d in Australia, which kept the company from going public. That was something the company should have told shareholders and could lead to PlayUp and key officials losing their licenses.<\/p>\n
In response, PlayUp General Counsel Ashley Kerr told Mintas to stop communicating with external parties immediately.<\/p>\n
The next day, Mintas sent a letter to PlayUp\u2019s Australian board members \u2013 Simic, Costa, and Richard Sapsford. In that email, she said she found it intriguing that PlayChip went bankrupt, but still found a way to become a significant shareholder in PlayUp, a separate company. Mintas added that it would be \u201ca very interesting story\u201d for Australian and American regulators to investigate.<\/p>\n
The three Australian board members, Mintas said, controlled PlayChip, which she said she just recently learned.<\/p>\n
The only way to \u201cclean this mess up,\u201d she said, was to remove Simic and make her the global CEO.<\/p>\n
\nSome of you keep asking me if I am not afraid to lose everything,\u201d <\/strong>she wrote. \u201cI guarantee you guys – and especially you, Richard – I will lose nothing. Worse case is I will get it from you once I sue the (expletive) out of you.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nIn a separate affidavit, Mintas said that she went without a salary for a year and invested $1.2 million of her money into the company.<\/p>\n
Mintas, herself a member of the board at the time, copied fellow PlayUp Board Member Dennis Drazin on the Nov. 26 email. Earlier this month, PlayUp appointed Drazin as its US chairman<\/a>.<\/p>\nMintas added she received an email last Wednesday from Kerr officially terminating her as US CEO and a board member.<\/p>\n
In a statement to Casino.org<\/em>, PlayUp declined to comment on Mintas\u2019 response.<\/p>\nThe company awaits \u201cthis issue to work itself out via the courts and the US legal system.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The former CEO of PlayUp\u2019s US division responded Monday to a federal lawsuit her ex-employer filed against her a month ago. In it, not only did Dr. Laila Mintas refute the company\u2019s allegations that she disparaged the online gaming company, but she also claimed that its global CEO was the one responsible for undermining its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":195345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Laila Mintas Says PlayUp Global CEO's Greed Killed $450M Sale - Casino.org<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n