{"id":578954,"date":"2026-08-01T14:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578954\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T14:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:25:18","slug":"drake-fraudulent-streams-case-on-ice-as-judge-orders-arbitration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578954\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake \u2018Fraudulent Streams\u2019 Case on Ice as Judge Orders Arbitration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA federal judge has paused a lawsuit <\/a>accusing Drake<\/a> and streamer Adin Ross<\/a> of using the online casino platform Stake.us to bankroll a \u201cbot army\u201d that allegedly artificially inflated streams of Drake\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a 20-page opinion obtained by Rolling Stone, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ruled Thursday that the plaintiffs agreed to binding arbitration with Stake when they accessed the platform to play casino-style games. The agreement requires them to pursue their claims against Stake before a private arbitrator rather than in court, the judge said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrinkema essentially halted the plaintiffs\u2019 related claims against Drake, Ross, and Australian co-defendant George Nguyen until the arbitration is resolved. She noted in her opinion that the plaintiffs had not yet served any of the three men with the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\n\tAttempts to reach representatives for Drake, whose legal name is Aubrey Drake Graham, and Ross were not immediately successful on Friday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit was first filed last December. It followed a month after a different complaint <\/a>filed in federal court in California alleged that Spotify \u201cturned a blind eye\u201d to \u201cbillions of fraudulent streams\u201d of Drake\u2019s music. That lawsuit, in which Graham is not a defendant, is still pending. <\/p>\n

\n\tA judge dismissed an earlier version of the Spotify complaint in June, saying the plaintiff failed to show Spotify had a duty to protect him and failed to show how he was substantially harmed. The plaintiff, the rapper RBX, born Eric Dwayne Collins, filed a first amended complaint on July 13, claiming the alleged fraud diverted at least $600 million in royalties from other artists over a nearly four-year period through 2025. He also added that streamshare plays a significant role in an artist\u2019s career, saying it\u2019s \u201ccritical that Spotify\u2019s calculations are accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpotify is due to respond to the amended complaint by Aug. 11.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the now-halted case naming Graham as a defendant in federal court in Virginia, the plaintiffs allege the singer engaged in a conspiracy to \u201cprey upon consumers,\u201d unlawfully expose them to the \u201csubstantial risks of gambling addiction,\u201d and jeopardize their financial well-being. The plaintiffs claim they were \u201cinfluenced to participate\u201d in Stake\u2019s \u201cpredatorial gambling environment\u201d after viewing Drake\u2019s paid promotion of the site, including live-streamed gambling sessions and giveaways. <\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit is not the first to target Graham, 39, and Ross, 25, over their ties to Stake. Last October, a Missouri man filed a similar proposed class action<\/a> against the men and Stake\u2019s parent company, Sweepsteaks Limited.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Missouri and Virginia-based lawsuits both allege Stake.us uses an unlawful, dual-currency system that bundles virtual, purportedly non-redeemable \u201cgold coins\u201d with a second type of token, called \u201cStake Cash,\u201d that can be cashed out for real money. This type of dual-currency model is considered a loophole by critics and has faced backlash from legislators. California Gov. Gavin Newsom\u00a0signed a bill<\/a>\u00a0last year to help address the problem.<\/p>\n

\n\tLawyers for Stake did not respond to an email seeking comment sent Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge has paused a lawsuit accusing Drake and streamer Adin Ross of using the online casino…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[40680,2126,47452,928,93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-578954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-adin-ross","tag-controversy","tag-courts-and-crime","tag-drake","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}