Popular daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator PrizePicks is suing a former employee who moved to DraftKings, allegedly breaching a 12-month non-compete when doing so and sharing trade secrets. Judah Hoffman worked as the director of social media for two years at his previous employer before transitioning to a similar role in the company’s rival.
Hoffman used ChatGPT to see how enforceable his non-compete agreement was
The complaint describes how after getting an offer for the $200,000 salary role at DraftKings, Hoffman used ChatGPT to see how enforceable his non-compete agreement was. PrizePicks discovered that the individual uploaded proprietary documents to his own ChatGPT account before leaving, including a “highly sensitive” branding pack. They also found evidence on his company laptop of covering up his behavior by deleting files and messages.
Hoffman officially signed a contract with DraftKings on May 2 at a $210,000 salary, with PrizePicks claiming the additional $10,000 was a payment for disclosing proprietary information. He submitted his notice on May 5 and wouldn’t disclose where he was going to work when talking to PrizePicks founder Adam Wexler and the CEO Mike Ybarra.
DraftKings was involved in a similar lawsuit last year, but the shoe was on the other foot. One of its VIP executives left to join Fanatics, and the Boston-based operator made similar allegations about non-compete and trade secrets. The two parties settled the lawsuit.
