Dimesports.net Proven Fraudulent To the Tune of $200,000!!!

                                                               A follow-up to this original post

The owner of Dimesports.net, Robert L. Braddy Jr. has been found liable in perpetrating a fraud in the 2008 $100,000 Dimesports.net Fantasy Football Salary Cap Challenge.  In what turned out to be a scam where Braddy’s cousin won the 2007 $100,000 grand prize, he was awarded the first place prize again in ’08, even after it was determined the morning after the game ended that his team was over the salary cap by over two million dollars for the last three weeks of the season. Upon hearing the news of Jarrod West’s lucky season, a participant went to the message board and asked how was it possible for his team to win when the math shows he went over the $50 million allotted cap, supposedly controlled by the site calculator software. Immediately the message boards were abuzz with demands the site do the right thing and disqualify the team for not playing within the rules ,and award the prize to John Lowery of Michigan, who played within the rules as was verified on the message boards by Braddy himself.  The following day the entire game was removed from the site and returned later for the players to see, but at that point the validity of the game was questioned even more.

West denied ever knowing he was over the cap, claiming he didn’t verify his roster totals before making weekly trades by adding his total team salary, but instead “just jammed” his players into their respective slots assuming the software would do the math and alert him if he was over. This statement was not believed by many, and wouldn’t seem to be a practice used by anyone who has now won $200,000 playing salary cap football. It was also alleged that he had been given an unlimited amount of trades for free to use, which was another advantage that other’s would have had to pay hundreds of dollars for.

 After numerous phone conversations with Mr. Braddy, Mr. Lowery was offered the $10,000 second place prize; another $10,000 would be given to him for the “inconvenience”.  At that point paperwork sent for him to sign showed he would not be allowed to discuss the settlement and if word got out about the settlement he’d be legally obligated to pay Dimesports back $10,000. In the same breathe Braddy claimed it wasn’t hush money, nor the paperwork a gag order.

Mr. Lowery knew he was the legitimate winner of the game and was not willing to settle for the second place prize, yet he was willing to negotiate what most seemed to believe was a fair offer. Mr. Lowery suggested to Mr. Braddy that perhaps West would be willing to split both first and second place prizes. This would appear in the eyes of his participants the right thing to do, and would quiet the message boards, as they were rampant with threats of lawsuits and screams of fraud. But this too was a no go from Braddy, who informed Mr. Lowery that the decision would stand, West would remain the winner because it wasn’t, allegedly, his fault the software didn’t operate properly, end of story as far as Mr. Braddy was concerned.

 Immediately Mr. Lowery was put in contact with a law firm in Atlanta, Georgia, where Dimesports.net is based, to initiate collection and if warranted, litigation. The Rules as promulgated on the site require binding arbitration of any and all disputes, and after a teleconference with Noah S. Rosner, name partner of Rosner & Langlais, LLC, the firm agreed to take on the case. Mr. Rosner and his associate counsel, Mrs. Melissa Gilbert, felt Mr. Lowery had an uphill battle, but they also felt that he was wronged in such a way that the matter could very well become a criminal concern. Because of their respect for Mr. Lowery’s position, as well as relishing the role of underdog, Mr. Rosner essentially agreed to handle the matter on a contingency basis, for he knew fully well that the attorney fees alone would be in the tens of thousand, and did not want Mr. Lowery to be financially responsible for the wrongful actions of others. Mr. Braddy retained his own counsel, Mr. Leron Rogers, Esq., who felt that the claim(s) had no merit, and went so far as to counter-sue Mr. Lowery for among other things, tortuous interference with contractual relations. As the months went by and the discovery process continued in the action, it was discovered that Mr. Braddy had allegedly previously engaged in illegal activities. In or around 2006, the police showed up at Mr. Braddy’s residence, and seized over $300,000.00 in cash and jewelry (They also seized a 40mm Glock, which turned out to have been stolen from an FBI agent). Mr. Braddy appealed this seizure of his money, weapon(s), ammunition, mobile cell phones, etc., yet his appeal was denied by the United States 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals. It was also alleged during a five year period, Mr. Braddy had reported IRS income of around $60,000.00 total, but his bank records showed that sums in excess of $1.7 million dollars had been deposited into his accounts. Where did the money come from? Good question. During his deposition by the government, it has been alleged that Mr. Braddy pled the 5^th over 170 times!

This is important, for on the first day of the arbitration, September 10, 2009, Mr. Braddy was a no-show. Why? Because he had been arrested that morning by government agents for Tax Evasion.  Based upon his failure to show for the first day of hearings, the matter was continued until September 11, 2009, at 8:00 am.

During the entire process while Mr. Lowery was in Michigan, obviously frustrated learning that he had not only been defrauded out of the winnings but the winner named was actually the first cousin of the owner, he never wavered in his belief he won fairly, and that his legal team was prepared to fight this to the end. Mr. Rosner was also confident that the evidence gathered, including but not limited to the constant technical difficulties, numerous player complaints, messages routinely deleted on the message board (but copied and saved by Lowery and Sullivan prior to deletion), would prove out to be a part of a scheme to defraud.

Along with these practices, Mr. West, the putative 2007 and 2008 winner, would comment how it would be wise to buy more trades if participants wanted to be able to dethrone him. This caused some to inquire why a player would be reminding opponents to spend money on the very game he was trying to win, when remaining silent and hoping other’s would not be aware of his movement would have been more the normal method of play. It was alleged by Mr. Lowery and his counsel that these messages were not placed by West, but by Mr. Braddy himself to entice players to purchase more trades, which padded his coffers even more.

Mr. Braddy, in defense of his site during and particularly at its conclusion, tried his hand at damage control saying that all winners were always paid, the site was legit and any comments to the contrary were false. Even as the case progressed Mr. Braddy, who knew the plaintiff was aware that his cousin in fact was the announced winner, still insisted he had done nothing wrong, that there was a “glitch” in the software that allowed some teams to be allowed to go over the salary cap. However, Mochanin, the software/server company Dimesports allegedly used to develop the site, was mysteriously dismissed from the action by Mr. Braddy, this after Mr. Braddy had sued them, claiming they were responsible for the computer “glitch.” Shortly after the dismissal, Mochanin provided Mr. Braddy and his attorney with an affidavit, stating that the “glitch” was their fault. During depositions, Mr. Rosner and Ms. Gilbert aggressively tore apart every aspect of the game and its operation. They also spoke at length with Mr. Jeff Thomas, former president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association and current owner of World Fantasy Games / RapidDraft and SportsBuff.com. Mr. Thomas testified that the same winner two years in a row for a new salary cap game is a red flag.  Coupling that with a higher salary cap for the winning team and team rosters that aren't displayed until days after the game would lead any experienced fantasy game operator to expect fraud . As an expert in the fantasy sports industry his testimony would prove to be invaluable.

Also testifying was Kevin Sullivan, a previous consultant for the site’s blog community who had access to administration capabilities. Mr. Sullivan testified that in his opinion, Mr. Braddy could login as any user of the site if he chose to do so. He had also pointed out many other irregularities not usually seen within the normal limits of a legit game. Mr. Sullivan was also able to introduce certain evidence which contradicted Mr. Braddy and his testimony.  During the depositions, it was learned that Mr. Braddy only paid his cousin, Mr. West, $50,000.00 of the $100,000.00 2007 Grand Prize. When asked about this matter, the answer was there was oral agreement between Mr. West and Mr. Braddy, and they would not provide further details. In numerous press releases prior to the ’07 game, Mr. Braddy claimed the ”Grand Prize money of $100,000 was in Wachovia bank in Atlanta waiting to be paid to the winner”. This press release also announced Shannon Sharpe, former NFL football player and CBS Sports analyst as their spokesperson. He too had promoted Dimesports before and mid season of the ’07 game that this was the site of “true winner’s”, and that this site really does pay out. However Mr. Braddy did not produce financial documents to prove the money ever existed in the account.

The arbitrator’s decision was handed down last week in favor of Mr. Lowery in the approximate amount of $200,000.00. The arbitrator ruled in favor of Mr. Lowery, against Mr. Braddy and Dimesports jointly and severally, for breach of contract, fraud, unjust enrichment, etc. All the while, Mr. Braddy was moving ahead with his website, readying it for the 2009 season. A commercial was produced to promote the game, he had a video with Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward (editor note, it appears the video is removed, but a picture remains) posted on his site, Facebook, MySpace and Youtube, where the Super Bowl Champ donned a Dimesports T-shirt, hyped the site and invited a participant to be named later to his restaurant in the Steel City for a meet and greet. He also stated how the site was the home of true winners, and you needed to “Get in it, to win it”! Thursday, September 10^th was the opening of the 2009 NFL season, the same day as the arbitration hearing was to have been held. But after the first weekend of the 2009 Dimesports season,  and before the arbitrator’s decision was handed down, the website released a statement that due to technical difficulties they would not be continuing on with the rest of the season, which had 16 weeks remaining, but would be back next season better than ever! 

To date,  my contact with some players who paid to play the 2009 season have reported not being reimbursed their entry fees as was promised in an email from Dimesports. The website has been removed completely; their Facebook fan page is gone. Mr. Braddy may have closed up shop, but this in no way will relinquish him of his responsibilities in this case. Mr. Rosner has made it abundantly clear that they will not sit around waiting for Mr. Braddy; rather, they will immediately engage in all avenues to recover the funds owing and due Mr. Lowery. Because the judgment is based on fraud, Mr. Braddy and Dimesports will not be able to file bankruptcy to dispose of this debt. Mr. Rosner will use all available legal means to have this judgment satisfied, including seizing personal assets and property of the Defendants.

Needless to say Mr. Lowery is delighted with the results by his zealous legal team, who had put in hundreds of hours in preparation prior to the hearing process. They assured Mr. Lowery they would not rest until justice prevailed. This case was no easy task given the position taken by the Defendants and his counsel. Not only the delays, but the failure to provide requested documentation became very frustrating. Approximately one (1) week before the arbitration, Mr. Braddy and Dimesports were ordered by the arbitrator to produce the requested documents, and they finally did, delivering over five hundred (500) pages of discoverable material that Mr. Rosner and Mrs. Gilbert had to review one document at a time.  Fortunately for John, Melissa Gilbert proved to be the top notch researcher and contract attorney she has the reputation of being. Noah Rosner, well let’s face it, when it came time to go to battle with Braddy and Company, Mr. Rosner demonstrated that they weren’t even in the same league, and he proceeded to dismantle the defendants one piece of evidence at a time. At 9:00 the evening of September 11, 2009, the case was done, the only issue remaining the award of the arbitrator.

So, let this be a warning to all of you who participate in online fantasy sports games. Do your homework on the site you'd like to join. Read the forums, ask member's if possible about the games they offer and what they think of them. Do a Google search of the site. Like in this case, if you had Googled it first you would have found numerous articles and complaints about Dimepsorts from various member's telling you not to join and avoid it at all cost. Word of mouth is the best advertising, but it also can be your best defense from becoming a victim. This is a faceless crime, and Mr. Lowery very well could have been victimized to the very end without any resolution had certain factors not played out. He was vigilant to the point of even talking to Mr. Braddy prior to signing up,  and was assured by Mr. Braddy personally that the game was legit, that problems he had heard about from the previous season had been worked out and the game was ready to be launched without any foreseen difficulties. Yet, from week one on there were continuous questions about transparency of other player’s rosters, live scoring not working and the message boards buzzing that it was looking to be a repeat of the previous year.  It’s these red flags that are what to watch out for. Like the drug dealer taken off the street, there’s two more opening up shop, and it’s no different in the fantasy sports industry!

This time there was a happy ending, the owner of this scam was found liable for fraud; his site obviously suffered from the negative publicity and complaints on the net from 2008; the way it ended was enough to keep people away from signing up, and this is what we believe was the technical problem the site encountered after week one. The simple fact no one came to play, no one was funding his cause this time around, that’s where it hurts these guys, in the wallets, and one at a time we’ll expose them, and one at a time we’ll pick their pockets clean and shut them down for good!