"Stake.us is a legally-contentious workaround in which real money buys play money, and play money can be converted back into USD. In between, players gamble with that play money, and because it's arguably not real, Stake has operated in a gray area that critics call a loophole. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill last year to address the dual-currency model."
"The lawsuit invokes the federal RICO statute, alleging that Drake, Ross, and Nguyen operated as part of a racketeering conspiracy dating back to 2022. According to the complaint, the three men used Stake's user-to-user "tipping" feature as what the suit describes as "an unlimited and wholly unregulated money transmitter" to directly transfer funds among themselves. Those funds, the plaintiffs allege, were then funneled into fraudulent streaming schemes and "amplification campaigns" - including ones that targeted Drake's competitors with disparaging content."
A Virginia class-action complaint accuses Drake, streamer Adin Ross, and Australian national George Nguyen of participating in a racketeering conspiracy dating to 2022. The complaint asserts that the defendants used Stake.us’s user-to-user tipping system as an unregulated money transmitter to rotate funds among themselves. Plaintiffs claim those funds were funneled into fraudulent streaming and amplification campaigns, including bot-driven Spotify stream inflation and disparagement campaigns targeting competitors. Drake and Ross served as high-profile promoters for Stake, appearing in live-streamed gambling sessions and hosting paid giveaways in exchange for payments and platform access. Stake.us operates on a dual-currency model that critics call a legal gray area.
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