Dr. Laila Mintas filed an emergency motion opposing PlayUp’s ex parte application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.

Dr. Mintas and her team filed a reply with the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, denying charges that when contract renewal negotiations began, Mintas requested a 50% yearly pay rise from $500,000 to $1 million, as well as a 15% increase in her shareholding.

PlayUp Litigation

In addition, the papers, which were filed in the Silver Claim on December 3, 2021, state that the defendant demanded an appointment as the group’s global CEO, which would necessitate the termination of existing CEO Daniel Simic. 

This was accomplished, the company claims, by contacting Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which was in the process of acquiring some PlayUp assets for $450 million. It is verified that during the discussions, the defendant notified FTX that “there is strife inside PlayUP’s management, there are systemic flaws, and the company is not clean,” which the company contends ultimately resulted in the transaction failing.

Mintas, PlayUp argues, “engaged in actions directly in violation of the agreement” when an agreement did not materialize. According to the petition, PlayUp’s CEO “torpedoes” the $450 million transactions with FTX and reportedly “sought to make Dr. Mintas the scapegoat.”

It stated: “PlayUp Inc. filed a complaint in this court claiming Dr. Mintas of denigrating PlayUp and causing the FTX contract to collapse. However, PlayUp concealed two critical emails from this court, demonstrating that it was not Dr. Mintas who destroyed the contract, but rather PlayUp Ltd.’s worldwide CEO, Daniel Simic, who turned greedy and caused the deal to collapse. FTX withdrew from the contract as a result of Simic’s activities, not Dr. Mintas’.

“In an email to Dr. Mintas dated November 9, 2021, Simic stated that he desired to require

FTX will acquire a seemingly unrelated firm, PlayChip, for an extra $105 million; FTX to give a $65 million incentive to Australian’key staff,’ including $25 million to himself, bringing the total acquisition price to an additional $170 million (the “side deals”).

“Dr. Mintas has since discovered that PlayChip is owned by all three Australian members of PlayUp’s board of directors: Simic, Michael Costa, and Richard Sapsford. Dr. Mintas highlighted her opposition to those side deals that could affect PlayUp Ltd. shareholders and prioritize Simic’s interests over PlayUp Ltd.’s.

“In response, Simic and the other two PlayUp and PlayChip board members suspended Dr. Mintas from the Company and presented a picture of her sabotaging the deal.

However, FTX provided an email outlining why they declined the purchase, citing several of Simic’s requests that they could not meet – including the acquisition of PlayChip. PlayUp conveniently forgot to furnish the Court with this communication, instead accusing Dr. Mintas of criticizing PlayUp, so jeopardizing the deal. Nothing could be more erroneous.”

Dr. Mintas previously criticized as “wrong” reports that she threatened to “burn PlayUp to the ground,” adding that the accusation “makes no sense.”

Media Response 

Mintas responded to the media coverage with the following statement to SBC Americas: “I am a substantial shareholder in PlayUp as of today and have spent seven figures of my savings into the firm.” It makes no sense that I would have made any of the comments described in the filing or attempted to sabotage a deal to sell PlayUp, as I, along with all other shareholders, would have benefited.

“All of the assertions made in the fillings are false, and my attorneys are already preparing to file a response to those claims that will describe the true narrative based on documented proof.” Minas stated that she was unable to respond “in-depth at the moment” since doing so would compel her to make critical remarks about Australia’s leadership.

She stated, however, that she created the PlayUp USA business from the ground up during the last two years “…having been the US CEO of PlayUp and the sole person on the ground for the first nearly one and a half years.”