DraftKings succeeds in limiting ex-employee's work at Fanatics for now

DraftKings has not let up the pressure on a former employee, which the company has seen as a threat to its business model as part of an ongoing legal saga that involves Michael Hermalyn, the employee in question, going to work for a rival. Hermalyn worked as SVP, Growth and SVP, Business Development at DraftKings and has served a cumulative stint of three years and six months, Casino Guru News learned in an email media communication.

In the latest court decision, Hermalyn may continue working at Fanatics at least for now, but in a limited capacity, after US District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston sided with DraftKings and ordered the employee on Tuesday to restrict his duties for Fanatics to areas of the business he has not been involved with when working for DraftKings.

DraftKings has levelled accusations against Hermalyn, arguing that the former SVP, Growth had changed jobs while also accessing sensitive information from the company’s servers, and sharing it with Fanatics. These allegations have been denied vehemently by Hermalyn.

Hermalyn is also said to have approached two DraftKings employees, Andrew Larracey and Hayden Metz, and offered them jobs but his account on this is different, as the current Fanatics employee insists that he was in fact the one to be approached by his former colleagues, both of whom at least briefly considered to make a switch for Fanatics.

Hermalyn joined Fanatics several months ago as President and Head of the LA Office (as per his current LinkedIn page, but originally he was in charge of VIP customers), and he has ever since been hounded by his former employer.

A previous decision from this year restricted Hermalyn’s access to former DraftKings VIP customers with whom he worked at his former boss. Now, though, Judge Kobick seems inclined to believe that Hermalyn had also misappropriated confidential information before leaving to step into the position of President of Fanatics’ VIP Program.

Fanatics has also been involved although not as a direct party in the legal proceedings and so far, has stood by Hermalyn. The company, which is not named a defendant in the lawsuit, said that it was surprised by the decision, but still appreciated that Judge Kobick allowed Hermalyn to continue working for the company, despite the limitations.

"Mike is looking forward to rolling up his sleeves and building Fanatics' business consistent with the court order," Fanatics said. Yet, the legal battle is hardly over, as DraftKings has said that it will seek to bring Hermalyn to justice and hold him fully accountable for his obligations to the company.

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