Embattled PlayUp US CEO fires back in boardroom confidentiality legal dispute
Dr Laila Mintas slams explosive allegations which she insists “make no sense” as she is a “major shareholder” in the operator
PlayUp US CEO Dr Laila Mintas has hit back at allegations made by her current employers that she sabotaged PlayUp’s $450m acquisition by cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.
PlayUp sensationally fired the first salvo against Mintas by filing for a temporary restraining order to prevent her from using confidential information and making disparaging statements about her employers to external entities, including FTX.
Orders were filed in the US District Court in Nevada as well as the Australian Federal Court.
In its filing, PlayUp suggested Mintas had actively breached her employment agreement during negotiations concerning the proposed sale to FTX for $450m, actions which allegedly arose out of a failure to agree a new two-year employment contract with the firm’s board of directors.
In her negotiations to renew her contract with PlayUp, Mintas asked for her salary to be doubled to $1m, to be promoted to global CEO, and her stake in the business to be increased to a 15%, yet all this was ultimately denied.
Alleged conduct ranges from threatening to “burn PlayUp to the ground” before selling the firm to FTX, damaging PlayUp’s reputation with gaming regulators, commercial and business trading partners, and implying there were “systematic issues” with the company.
In a statement provided to EGR, Dr Laila Mintas fired back at her accusers. “I am a major shareholder in PlayUp as of today and invested seven figures of my own savings into the company,” Mintas said.
“It makes no sense that I would have made any of those comments that are quoted in the filing or tried to destroy a deal to sell PlayUp as I would have benefitted from that as well as all other shareholders.
“All the claims mentioned in the fillings are wrong and my lawyers are working on filling shortly my response to those claims to tell the true story based on written evidence.
“I cannot comment in every detail right now as it would force me to make negative comments about the Australian leadership which I have to restrain from because of my former employment contract and now the court order they put on me,” Mintas added.
A hearing is due to take place in Australian Federal Court later this week, while Mintas’ lawyers are due to present their counter arguments to judges in Nevada later today, with a hearing on 16 December.
For her part, Mintas remained defiant, citing her two-year record as PlayUp US CEO, her impact in building the US business and making it an attractive target for FTX.
“Over the last two years, I’ve built up the PlayUp USA business from scratch having been the US CEO of PlayUp and the only person on the ground for the first one-and-a-half years,” Mintas said.
“I built a great team on the ground, got PlayUp US live in Colorado and New Jersey, and got PlayUp market access in many states which led to PlayUp USA often called ‘the sleeping giant’ in our industry.
“My hard work has created a valuation of over $400m alone because of the US market,” she added.
Addressing sabotage allegations, Mintas continued “The company is in possession of an FTX email stating the facts why FTX rejected the deal which I will submit to the court [and] which clearly outlines the reasons on the Australian side of the leadership team as the deal breaker.
“If someone tries to prevent you from speaking to the US regulators, that says everything,” she added.
At a wider global level, PlayUp is led by founder and CEO Daniel Simic who provided an affidavit as part of the suit affirming Mintas’s culpability in the breakdown of the FTX sale.