A Fanatics Sportsbook executive embattled in a lawsuit with former employer DraftKings denied in court this week that he solicited employees or stole sensitive company documents.
Michael Hermalyn, who ran the VIP program at DraftKings, said on the witness stand in Boston that he “operated with extreme caution” in attempting not to breach his contract during his exit to Fanatics, where he took a similar position.
DraftKings feels otherwise and was in court seeking a preliminary injunction to keep Hermalyn from working for Fanatics and billionaire owner Michael Rubin, which violates Hermalyn's one-year noncompete agreement signed during his employment at DraftKings.
The other side
Contradictory testimony from two DraftKings employees, however, gave U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick something to think about Tuesday.
Andrew Larracey and Hayden Metz testified that Hermalyn asked them to follow him to Fanatics, starting on Hermalyn’s first day of his new job, and offered multi-million dollar contracts, recounting figures from notes taken during multiple conversations.
Larracey applied and was interviewed at Fanatics but was never offered a job while Metz didn’t pursue a position.
Hermalyn testified that he had friends coming to him in hopes of landing at Fanatics.
No ruling was made, but the judge said she would reassess client restrictions, per DraftKings’ request.
Escalating tensions
Hermalyn left DraftKings days before the Super Bowl in February, and Kobick’s Feb. 8 ruling did not bar him from working for Fanatics, but he was not able to solicit any of DraftKings’ VIP clients, which included celebrities and athletes.
The tension between the two sides has escalated since, and DraftKings has not backed down from its accusation that documents were stolen.
Hermalyn explained that he moved needed files from a personal computer to a new work computer before he left DraftKings. He testified that he deleted old files, like family photos.
“DraftKings created a false narrative based on a series of misrepresentations in order to conduct a second-rate hit job on an employee who dared to leave its toxic culture,” Russell Black, Hermalyn’s attorney, told the Boston Globe in a statement.
