Evil Geniuses being sued by SumaiL for fraud and deceit

Dota 2 prodigy Syed “SumaiL” Hassan has filed a lawsuit against his former team Evil Geniuses for contract breach and fraud.

In accordance with court records, SumaiL’s lawyers have accused the North American group Evil Geniuses of 11 offenses, including breach of contract, fraud, and unjust enrichment in relation to his prior contract, which dated back to December 2019.

The accusations originate from EG’s alleged attempts to trick and mislead SumaiL, a young and inexperienced player at the time, into agreeing to a clause that significantly cut his pay and took away his stocks in the organization. The dispute centers on SumaiL’s ownership holdings in EG, which were given to him in September 2016, barely one month after the player finished in the top three with Evil Geniuses at The International 6.

Why did SumaiL sue EG?

SumaiL received 400,000 shares from EG as payment for his services to the North American squad in 2016. Eventually, SumaiL’s securities were changed into 265,338 common shares and an additional 106,667 units of restricted common shares when the company was acquired by Peak6 Strategic Capital in May 2019.

The restricted or preferred stocks, however, were only made available to Peak6 members, and SumaiL was not made aware of the precise changes that occurred to his assets as a result of the merger.

Moreover, SumaiL was anticipated to earn a salary of $20,000 each month, according to his contract with EG in 2019. However, after placing in the top six at The International 9, SumaiL was moved to the inactive roster and his contract with EG was revised, lowering his monthly salary from $20,000 to $2,000 and preventing him from taking part in any other tournaments than the Dota Major qualifiers. 

Afterward, SumaiL received a second contract titled the “Mutual Release Agreement,” which was riddled with errors, contradictions, and unenforceable clauses, according to the court document. SumaiL’s attorney asserted that EG allegedly tried to use the two parties’ unequal bargaining positions to pressure SumaiL into signing the termination agreement, which would have denied him his benefits and ownership in the company.

SumaiL departed EG before TI10 in order to join OG and try his luck in Western Europe. EG allegedly approached him with an offer to buy his firm stock for a total of $1 million, with an initial payment of $300,000 and an aggregate value of up to $700,000, which would be paid once SumaiL retires. 

SumaiL, however, never received any compensation for his shares, according to the lawsuit, and was not provided with accurate and complete information on his ownership stake in the deal. The primary argument in SumaiL’s case is that EG unfairly and indirectly pressured him to give up the stocks he had accrued during his tenure with the organization through a number of poorly articulated agreements. 

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