PrizePicks Sues Former Employee for Jumping to DraftKings

PrizePicks, a fantasy sports outlet, is suing its former social media director after he left the company for the same position at DraftKings and allegedly took its “most closely guarded” marketing secrets with him. 

In a complaint filed in Washington federal court on Wednesday, PrizePicks accused Judah Huffman of leveraging its marketing documents for a salary increase while in talks with DraftKings before accepting a position with the gambling giant, which PrizePicks says violated his noncompete.

“We are taking swift steps to ensure that our trade secrets and innovations are safeguarded,” said Elisa Richardson, spokesperson for PrizePicks in an email to Front Office Sports. 

The suit includes claims against Huffman for trade secret theft and breach of contract and fiduciary duty. It is seeking to prevent Huffman from working at DraftKings for at least a year under his noncompete, and accuses him of downloading confidential business secrets to his personal ChatGPT account.

“At the same time he was exfiltrating PrizePicks’ trade secrets and confidential information, Huffman was also engaged in negotiations with DraftKings regarding employment as its social media director,” the complaint says. 

According to Huffman’s LinkedIn account, he started at PrizePicks as its director of social media in May 2023. A year later, he accepted a bonus that included a one-year noncompete clause, according to the complaint, only to receive an offer letter from DraftKings 10 months later. He now is working at DraftKings as its “Director of Social & Community (Sportsbook),” according to LinkedIn.

The suit says that Huffman told PrizePicks human resources about the offer—which included a raise from $200,000 to $210,000—but claimed he was going to pass on it.

In the lawsuit, PrizePicks accuses Huffman of putting “highly sensitive” plans for its strategic brand and team goals to his personal ChatGPT account in mid-April.

“Shortly after receiving his DraftKings offer, Huffman uploaded his PrizePicks agreement to ChatGPT, and upon information and belief, asked ChatGPT to analyze the enforceability of the noncompete and other covenants contained therein,” the lawsuit says. “This action shows that Huffman was keenly aware of his obligations under the agreement and demonstrates his willful violation of the same.”

DraftKings improved its offer to Huffman, which he accepted on May 2 and resigned from his role at PrizePicks three days later, the complaint said. But he continued to tell PrizePicks that he had yet to decide on his future. His last day at PrizePicks was May 16, when he turned in his company phone and laptop. 

PrizePicks says that “Huffman blatantly and repeatedly lied” about the new job, and “surgically deleted volumes of information” from his company devices.

DraftKings was recently on the other side of a public noncompete battle. For most of 2024, it waged an expensive and public legal fight against Michael Hermalyn and Fanatics to block the executive from working for Michael Rubin’s company. Fanatics, DraftKings, and Hermalyn eventually settled their litigation against each other, and Hermalyn now runs Fanatics’ VIP bettor program.

Huffman and DraftKings both did not immediately respond to requests for comment.