SumaiL Loses Lawsuit To Evil Geniuses

Star Mid player Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan has reportedly lost his two-year court case against his late esports team, Evil Geniuses. The result of the case means SumaiL would walk away with no awards for damages.

Esports journalist Richard Lewis posted a report with an update of the court case between Dota 2 player SumaiL and esports organization Evil Geniuses. The Dota 2 community is aware of the lawsuit the Mid player conducted against his former team, as it was made public two years ago. 

The Evil Geniuses organization has had more drama surrounding their organization, as they recently had to drop most of their Valorant roster after winning the biggest tournament of the year. Unfortunately, the community is devastated to hear that SumaiL’s claims against Evil Geniuses did not pass. 

The court case started because SumaiL accused the Evil Geniuses organization for a breach of contract and fraud. 

SumaiL’s first real Dota 2 team was Evil Geniuses, where he lifted the Aegis at The International 5 when he was only 16 years old. Next year, in 2016, Hasan was offered 400,000 shares of the company to maintain his spot in the Evil Geniuses roster, in which he agreed.

Though Evil Geniuses did not achieve too many results, the deal and SumaiL’s position in the team were fine, until 2019, where things began to unfold. In 2019, Evil Geniuses was bought by the company Peak6 Strategic Capital. 

Due to this purchase, the player’s initial 400,000 shares were converted into 265,338 units of common stock, and 106,667 units of restricted common stock. In the same year, SumaiL signed a new contract with Evil Geniuses with a proposed monthly salary of $20,000. 

However, after The International 9, where Evil Geniuses exited the tournament in 5-6th place, the organization no longer wanted SumaiL as a part of the roster. In September of 2019, SumaiL was given an amendment to his contract to allow him play for other teams. 

This amendment read that SumaiL’s monthly salary would significantly drop to $2,000, but he was freed from streaming obligations and appearance duties. However, he was not allowed to play in other teams because he had ownership of Evil Geniuses, causing a conflict of interests.

Near the end of 2019, SumaiL and Evil Geniuses agreed that the organization would buy back the player’s shares for $1,000,000. $300,000 would be paid immediately, but the remaining $700,000 when he retires from professional Dota 2. The problem is, SumaiL was only 20 years old at the time, and considered one of the best Mid players in the world – he could realistically compete for ten more years. 

With the context in mind, SumaiL and his lawyers decided to sue Evil Geniuses for not providing “complete and accurate information” and “taking advantage of a young, naive, and vulnerable SumaiL by presenting unconscionable and ambiguous terms in numerous proposed arcane agreements.”

It is worth noting that SumaiL was still young, and was not knowledgeable enough to understand the possible consequences of signing the deals he did with the organization. 

However, SumaiL and his fans were left heartbroken after the court favored Evil Geniuses and Peak6, meaning he was left with no compensation. SumaiL likely had to pay two years worth of lawyer fees and will sadly walk away with nothing.