Superstar rapper Drake has been accused in a federal class-action RICO lawsuit of using the online sweepstakes casino Stake.us to boost the play counts of his music across the major streaming platforms.
Drake, along with online influencer Adin Ross and another alleged accomplice named George Nguyen, are also accused of using the site’s internal transfer features to hide how money was used to finance the alleged fraud, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on behalf of two Virginia residents.
“At the heart of the scheme, Drake — acting directly and through willing and knowledgeable co-conspirators — has deployed automated bots and streaming farms to artificially inflate play counts of his music across major platforms, such as Spotify,” the lawsuit states.
Their aim, according to the lawsuit, was to “manufacture popularity” and “distort playlists and charts.”
No one has been charged criminally with regard to the allegations in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which also names Stake.us and parent company Sweepstakes Limited as defendants, was filed as Drake (real name Aubrey Drake Graham) has been preparing to release a new album titled “Iceman.”
Drake is also a brand ambassador for both Stake.us and its parent company Stake.com. He signed a promotional deal with the company in 2022, reportedly worth at least $100 million a year, the Financial Times reported, citing two people familiar with the details of the deal.
Ross is a controversial online streamer on the Kick platform who made headlines in December when he goaded Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua into performing an antisemitic touchdown celebration dance that ended with the athlete looking into the camera and rubbing his hands together. Nacua later apologized, saying he was unaware of the antisemitic nature of the dance.
Nguyen is described in the court papers as an “Australian national.”
“Nguyen served as a facilitator and operational broker — alternately converting Stake-based cryptocurrency to cash, or receiving cash from Stake transferred cryptocurrency proceeds,” the lawsuit states.
It was Nguyen who “supervised coordinated amplification strategies,” according to the lawsuit.
NBC News has not been able to find contact information for Nguyen. But NBC News has reached out by phone and email to Drake, Ross and Stake for comment.
The lawsuit against Drake and others was filed Wednesday on behalf of two Virginia residents and all users of Stake.us, which the lawsuit calls a “U.S. storefront for Stake.com” that was designed to “to bypass applicable United States federal and Commonwealth of Virginia gambling regulations.”
It states that Drake and his alleged accomplices hid their money movements by using the site’s user-to-user tipping feature, which the lawsuit describes as “an unlimited and wholly unregulated money transmitter that appears to exist outside the oversight of any financial regulator.”
Drake, Ross and others were accused in another lawsuit filed Oct. 27, 2025, in Jackson County Circuit Court in Missouri of promoting an illegal online gambling operation. Online gambling is also not legal in Missouri.
“Stake.us is a virtual clone of Stake.com, rebranded to mislead Missouri regulators and consumers into believing it offers harmless gameplay instead of an unlawful gambling platform,” that lawsuit states.
The Missouri case is scheduled to go to trial on March 20.
In a response to pop culture website Complex at the time, a spokesperson for Stake denied the allegations.
Drake, who has had a public, long-running feud with rival rapper Kendrick Lamar, is also a defendant with Ross in a similar lawsuit filed Oct. 29 against them and Sweepstakes Limited in the 2nd Judicial District Court of New Mexico. That lawsuit alleges that they are promoting illegal online gambling in the state.
Online gambling is also not allowed in New Mexico, according to the state’s gaming control board.
In October, Ross dismissed both the Missouri and New Mexico lawsuits in an online post as “f—–g bull—t.”
