Alexandria, VA – Rapper Aubrey “Drake” Graham, online streamer Adin Ross, and entrepreneur George Nguyen have been named in a federal class action lawsuit accusing them of promoting an illegal online casino and using the platform’s proceeds to artificially inflate streaming numbers for Drake’s music.
The 22-page complaint, filed December 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges the trio used the crypto-based gaming site Stake.us — the U.S. version of the international gambling platform Stake.com — to “obscure transmissions of money” and support “ongoing music botting campaigns.” The suit was brought by plaintiffs LaShawnna Ridley and Tiffany Hines on behalf of all U.S. users of the website.
According to the filing, Stake.us operated as “one of the largest and most profitable illegal online casinos” under the guise of a “social casino,” claiming to offer no real-money gambling. Plaintiffs allege that the site’s branding was intentionally misleading, designed to evade federal restrictions after Stake.com was banned from operating in the United States.
The complaint seeks to halt operations of Stake.us, impose civil penalties on all defendants, and compensate users who allegedly lost money through the site. It further accuses the defendants of using their promotional reach to normalize unregulated gambling and conceal the flow of funds related to the site’s earnings.
Representatives for Drake, Ross, Nguyen, and Stake.us have not yet publicly commented on the lawsuit.
Drake, Adin Ross, and George Nguyen face a federal class action lawsuit accusing them of promoting an illegal gambling site and using its proceeds to boost music streams.