TLDR A New York judge allowed most claims in Nigel Eccles’ FanDuel lawsuit to move forward. The case centers on FanDuel’s 2018 merger with Paddy Power Betfair, which formed PandaCo. Plaintiffs say FanDuel’s 40% stake was undervalued at 559 million dollars. The judge dismissed two claims but let fraud and fiduciary duty claims proceed. Flutter later paid about 4.2 billion dollars for the rest of PandaCo in 2020.
A New York judge has let most of a lawsuit against FanDuel move forward. The case was brought by co-founder Nigel Eccles and more than 100 former employees and investors.
Judge Andrea Masley issued her ruling on July 9. She rejected most attempts to throw out the case before trial.
The lawsuit goes back to FanDuel’s 2018 sale to Paddy Power Betfair. That deal is now known as Flutter Entertainment.
For 8 years now, I’ve been fighting on behalf of the founders and 100+ former @fanduel who were unfairly deprived of their ownership in the company they built.
Quick recap: In 2018, FanDuel merged with Flutter’s US business. FanDuel shareholders received 40% of the newly merged…
— Nigel Eccles (@nigeleccles) July 15, 2026
What the Lawsuit Claims
The merger created a new company called PandaCo. Paddy Power Betfair took a 60% stake, and former FanDuel shareholders split the remaining 40%.
The lawsuit says that 40% stake was valued at 559 million dollars. Eccles and the other plaintiffs argue this number was far too low.
They claim the valuation was set at the exact point where preferred shareholders, including KKR and Shamrock Capital Advisors, would take all the merger proceeds. That left common shareholders and option holders with nothing.
The plaintiffs point to a May 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling as key evidence. That ruling struck down