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Australia’s youngest billionaire and his business partner in an online casino company are being sued for over $500 million by a childhood friend and former colleague.
Stake.com founders Ed Craven, 27, and Bijan Tehrani, 28, are accused of removing Christopher Freeman from their business and are charged with enabling illegal cryptocurrency gambling on their casino platform. , according to court documents.
Mr. Freeman was best friends with Mr. Tehrani as a child growing up in Connecticut, USA, and they worked together with Mr. Craven on their first online business venture, Primedice, a decade ago.
Craven is Australia’s youngest billionaire and last year bought two mansions in Toorak, Melbourne for around $120m, including an $88m “ghost mansion” believed to be Australia’s second most expensive home.
The trio founded cryptocurrency craps website Primedice in 2013 before Tehrani and Craven parted ways with Freeman and founded Stake.com, an online casino.
Freeman claims he was wrongfully driven out of the business and is suing the couple for $588 million in damages in New York’s Southern District Court.
Australia’s youngest billionaire, Ed Craven (pictured), and his co-founder of online casino Stake.com, Bijan Tehrani, are being sued by their childhood friend Christopher Freeman for more than $500 million.
Mr. Craven and Mr. Tehrani (pictured) are being charged with removing Mr. Freeman from his multi-billion dollar company, as well as allegedly allowing illegal cryptocurrency gambling on his casino platform online.
“Freeman is entitled to no less than a 20 percent interest in Stake.com, in addition to past-due amounts owed to him by Primedice and various altcoins, totaling no less than $200 million,” a civil lawsuit said. amended. by Freeman, filed in court recently.
After Primedice’s initial success in 2016, Freeman pushed the partnership to expand into other online cryptocurrency gambling, he claimed in court documents seen by Daily Mail Australia.
Freeman alleges that in 2016, Tehrani and Craven took advantage of the business opportunities that arose from the Primedice concept to turn it into Stake.com.
He brought a civil court action in New York in August 2022, seeking $400 million in damages, alleging that he was wrongfully excluded from the Stake.
Freeman also accused the duo of offering numerous online betting options, including a dice game that directly competes with and devalues Primedice, on its Stake platform, according to court documents.
Craven is Australia’s youngest billionaire and last year bought two Toorak mansions in Melbourne for around $120 million, splurging $88 million on an unfinished house in the fashionable suburb of Toorak, in what became his second home. Australia’s most expensive (pictured)
Court documents state that Freeman alleges that Tehrani and Craven told him in August 2016 that building a virtual casino was too expensive and instead planned to bring a fiat casino to Australia, and that if he wanted to be a part of it he would have to move to Australia. Australia.
Freeman refused to join them, as he is said to have believed that a fiat money casino featured too many competitors and considered it too risky.
It is alleged in court documents that Freeman was completely excluded from the effort he was working on. and that following his removal, the couple abandoned certain enforcement measures that were in place when Mr. Freeman was involved.
The court documents also detail how Mr. Freeman alleges that after he was put out of business, Mr. Craven and Mr. Tehrani introduced the use of geo-blocking technologies that prevent gambling in prohibited jurisdictions such as the United States.
It is also alleged that the couple transformed the partnership into a complex and vague company to assist in their illicit transactions, the documents state.
In court papers, Freeman claims he would not have violated online gambling bans if he had been involved and had long believed Craven and Tehrani were “too lenient” with government compliance.
“Stake.com is not only taking advantage of the US and New York markets, but in its effort to penetrate those markets, it’s apparently not worried about mocking regulators who want to prevent illegal online gambling in the United States,” Freeman said. said in court documents.
Freeman alleges that despite the US cryptocurrency gambling ban, both Craven and Tehrani are targeting customers by marketing Stake.com through their ‘social casino’ subsidiary website. ‘ Stake.us, where games are played for fake prizes, according to court documents.
Mr. Freeman alleges that in 2016, Tehrani and Craven took advantage of the business opportunities that arose from the Primedice concept to turn it into Stake.com (pictured: Mr. Craven’s home in Toorak)
Mr. Craven’s net worth is supported by the success of Staking, with an average of $400 million wagered on the site every day in the form of bets, according to statistics from Australian magazine The Weekend in October.
It also claims that they have explanations and videos online on how to use a VPN and mirror sites that would allow users in countries like the US and Australia to access the Stake website, according to the documents.
Freeman also claims that the pair completely blocked his access to his first online effort, Primedice, freezing it entirely despite assurances that he retained a stake in the partnership.
As a result, he alleges that he was blocked from any payments due, as well as any interest in Stake.com, which was based on his idea for a cryptocurrency-based casino that also incorporated part of the Primedice game.
Freeman says that from 2016 until now, Mr. Tehrani and Mr. Craven have violated their agreement and are therefore seeking damages in the amount of $558 million.
The huge damage bill was justified because Freeman claimed to have suffered multiple instances of fraud, his ideas for a cryptocurrency casino were taken, and his “potential economic advantage” was interfered with.
Lawyers for Craven and Tehrani previously stated that the lawsuit is “probably false” and “totally frivolous”, making it clear that they intended to defend the case vigorously.
Lawyers for Craven and Tehrani (pictured) earlier stated that the lawsuit is “probably false” and “totally frivolous”, making it clear that they intended to defend the case vigorously.
Mr Craven’s net worth is supported by the success of Staking, with an average of $400 million wagered on the site every day in the form of bets, according to statistics provided to The Weekend Australian Magazine in October.
In an interview at the time, Craven and Tehrani claimed they were on track to make $1 billion in profit by the end of 2022.
While they both live in Melbourne, their business is regulated through Curaçao in the Caribbean.
The business partners previously said they plan to apply for licenses to operate sports betting sites in regulated markets, which include Australia.