The two founders of controversial online crypto casino Stake are being sued in the United States for US$400 million by a former business partner who claims he was kept out of the highly lucrative business.
A report back in 2021 by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald discovered that crypto casino Stake was established in Melbourne, Australia, in 2017, despite apparently being operated by Medium Rare NV, an incorporated company in Curacao. The two founders are Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, who have called the legal action against them ‘false’ and ‘frivolous’.
The plaintiff is Christopher Freeman, who set off the court action in the Southern District of New York, seeking US$400 million for punitive damages and remuneration for investing in a company which predated Stake, claiming that Tehrani and Craven misled him into not taking part in the establishment of Stake.com.
Ed Craven made the Australian news by buying an $80 million house in Melbourne, breaking a price record there, as well as being linked to another property in the area worth $38 million. Property purchases are included as evidence of Stake’s success in Freeman’s claim, and there is mention of Stake having handled $100 billion through its sports betting and casino platforms.
Freeman claims to be a friend of Tehrani at primary and secondary school in the United States and that in 2013 the two of them set up a casino outfit called Primedice when they were in university. According to Freeman, he owned a 20 per cent share of Primedice, while Craven and Tehrani had a 40 per cent share each. Freeman has purported that his share later shrank to compensate certain people on the development team.
As the popularity of crypto grew, Freeman claims he raised the idea of starting a crypto casino in 2016, but Craven and Tehrani weren’t interested due to costs and regulation concerns. Instead, Freeman claims he was put off joining the pair in a new business – Stake, allegedly, because Freeman would have to relocate to Australia, and the site would only accept fiat currency – something Freeman purportedly had no interest in.
However, as we know, Stake did indeed launch as a crypto casino, ‘…which included a competing online dice game and many other features Freeman had proposed and helped design...’ Furthermore, ‘…Tehrani and Craven affirmatively tried to assuage Freeman’s dismay at having been misled by affirming that he still retained his stake in Primedice.’ It is alleged that Freeman’s Primedice account was later blocked after he spoke to and received assurances from Craven and Tehrani.
In a statement from Stake, the site had this to say; ‘The complaint filed by Chris Freeman contains allegations that are internally inconsistent, intentionally misleading, and provably false.’ The site also states Freeman has no claim to the money and that the action will be ‘dismissed by the court in due course.’
