The whole world is watching Drake right now for a bunch of different reasons, some better than others. There's his upcoming solo comeback ICEMAN, but his 2026 kicked off in a less exciting way. Stake, Adin Ross, George Nguyen, and the Toronto superstar received a civil class action RICO lawsuit from two plaintiffs alleging that they conspired to artificially boost Drizzy's music streams through promoting the online gambling platform.
As you can imagine, this led to a cavalcade of reactions from overzealous OVO haters and hardcore Stans alike, plus everyone in between. The biggest discrepancy seems to concern framing, as some have falsely interpreted this as a criminal federal investigation. Rather, it's an allegation of harm done to individuals via organized and illegal business moves.
Folks have also brought up Drake's previous allegations of botting against Spotify, whether as off-hand comments or as part of his lawsuit against UMG for defamation concerning Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" diss track. He and his legal team continue to appeal that suit's dismissal.
Drake's Civil RICO Case
Many Internet users believe there is a case here, while others are confused about the alleged logistics included in the allegations. One of them is Stake's "tipping" feature, which is allegedly not available in the United States. This is the method that plaintiffs claim that the 6ix God and his codefendants used to hide the financing of the alleged botting. But reactions on both sides suggest that there's a lot of confusion as to how this would work.
Nevertheless, other reactions focus on the civil RICO's allegations that Stake, Drake, Adin Ross, and Nguyen falsely promoted the allegedly illegal gambling site and misled users about how their system actually works. It also claims that false marketing allowed them to avoid gambling laws.
Fan Reactions
This is the third class action lawsuit involving these codefendants. This civil RICO appeared in Virginia, whereas the class action lawsuits appeared in New Mexico and Missouri. We will see how the parties involved respond to all of this. In the meantime, fans continue to debate, dissect, and predict what will happen next. But to be clear, nothing in this suit points to federal investigation or criminal repercussions.
