Fantasy sports leagues can be big fun and big business. But one company that offered fantasy league participates big money is in big trouble in Missouri.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has sued Gridiron Fantasy Sports and owner Dustin Ashby for allegedly defrauding Missouri consumers by failing to pay out the cash and other prizes they had promised to the winning fantasy league owners.
Koster said Ashby ran the World Championship of Fantasy Football and the World Championship of Fantasy Baseball both in Missouri and throughout the country, operating from an office in Chesterfield, Mo. Participants in the fantasy football and baseball contests would pay entrance fees for a chance to win pre-set cash prizes.
Promises, promises
Koster said prior to the start of the 2010 fantasy football season, the defendants promised to pay cash awards to up to 331 participants, totaling a minimum of $389,500, based on the performance of the individual fantasy teams. For instance, the person whose team scored the most fantasy points in each league during the regular season was guaranteed a cash prize of $5,000, and there were up to 100 leagues, based on the number of participants.
At the end of the 2010 season, the defendants notified the winners, told them the amount they had won, and promised to pay by February 15, 2011. The defendants even went on ESPN during Super Bowl XLV and presented the grand prize winner with an oversized check for $300,000, which Koster says was not fully honored.
$151,261 short
While the investigation is ongoing, Koster said he has discovered that the defendants have failed to pay out at least $151,261 of the promised prize money. Koster’s suit claims the defendants were using the fantasy baseball entrance fees to pay the fantasy football winners and the football entrance fees to pay the baseball winners. As a result, they could not guarantee prize-winning amounts, as they had done, since the payouts would be dependent on the number of participants. The suit also alleges the defendants used some of the entrance fee money for other non-contest purposes, including paying off loans.
Koster is asking the court to issue to require the defendants to provide full restitution to victims and pay all court and investigative costs.
