Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
I spoke to Niko on the phone tonight, at his request.
It was the first time we have ever spoken directly, and we've never met in person.
I heard him out, and I'll give him credit that he came off as a lot more sane than he did on the forum. The conversation was never heated, and he was respectful to me the whole way.
He raised his points to me regarding the situation, and I let him know where I agreed and disagreed. I also gave him general advice as to what I felt he should do about everything, which I will repeat out here.
Niko wanted to show me proof that Melissa had seen his Twitter DMs in December 2022, and hadn't just found that group of DMs in "the Other Messages folder" in March 2023, as it appears she was claiming. Indeed, Niko send me some fairly convincing proof that, yes, Melissa did see those messages at the time they were sent (December 2022), and didn't just find them in March 2023 as she was calling him out.
However, I told Niko that this was a minor detail, and unimportant. Whether Melissa was accurate regarding when she found some particular messages is irrelevant. The bottom line is that:
1) Niko sent Melissa unsolicited messages on two platforms (Twitter and Instagram) over a substantial period of time.
2) Melissa never responded to him.
3) Melissa blocked him on one of the platforms, and he kept messaging her on the other, despite it being clear from the block that she didn't want to hear from him.
4) He made some gross sexual remarks in some of the messages, such as "I want to lick your butthole".
5) He did identify himself as schizophrenic in one of the messages, and said he would "cancel everyone", which I could see being read as an implied threat.
6) It is reasonable to assume that Melissa was scared/unnerved/worried about Niko's messages which didn't seem to be stopping.
At the same time, I'll say this in his defense:
1) He did not appear to have said anything directly threatening at any point.
2) He did not appear to send any obscene pictures.
3) He did not call her at any point.
4) He did not appear to have stalked her in person at any point. She claims that he "sat at her table" one time at Wynn, but that's meaningless. Given that they are both poker pros, it's not unreasonable to believe he could appear in the same cash game at some point. It's also claimed that he stalked her at WSOP, but I have not seen convincing evidence that it was anything more than him just being present in the same hallway. Lots of people who dislike me are in the same hallway as me at WSOP, but I'm definitely not stalking them (nor are they stalking me!)
Did Niko act inappropriately and creepy with those barrage of messages? Yes.
Was Melissa reasonable to worry about the guy, and think he might be a threat? Again, yes.
However, this has escalated far beyond where it needed to go.
I have advised Niko to let this go, and to move on with his life. He seems to want to fully clear his name, win a civil suit against her, and achieve other remedies for himself. I told him that none of that is realistic.
The bottom line is that he repeatedly messaged a woman, did not get a response, kept messaging over a period of months, occasionally wrote obscene things, and even kept messaging after he got blocked on one of his accounts. There is no way for him to win in the court of public opinion, given all of that.
Niko's position is that he feels Melissa lied about him, both in her public statements and in court. Even if that's the case, the bottom line is that Melissa did not ask for any of this, and the situation occurring in the first place was his fault. I explained to him that, even if she embellished anything in court, it was likely due to fear of otherwise not getting the restraining order granted, which she felt she needed for her safety.
I told him that the best thing he can do is move on from this, not let it eat him up inside, stop talking about it publicly, and make it clear to everyone that he's never making contact with her again, and forgetting she exists.
I also told Niko that, while there's a zero point zero chance he will ever win a civil case against her, he does have a chance of overturning the restraining order. In my non-lawyerly opinion, this one could have gone either way, given that there were no threats, no visits, no phone calls, and it appears he was never explicitly told to stop messaging her, until the night she called him out. Additionally, there seems to be little evidence that his presence at the WSOP was anything more than him simply being there to play tournaments. I told him he could contact attorneys in Vegas to see if he has a viable path to overturning it.
I stated that, if he does get it overturned, his next step should be going to the poker directors of the rooms where he's banned, explaining that he has no desire to do anything but keep his head down and play cards, and promise never to speak to her if they're in the room at the same time. Perhaps they will give him another chance.
Bottom line is that Niko needs to get past this. He's made some mistakes, and what's done is done. He can let this destroy him inside, or he can take responsibility for his actions, seek to minimize the damage, and move forward. I hope he does the latter. I told him this on the phone multiple times.
Finally, to the troll who has been hassling him, my suggestion is to drop it. You are just enflaming the situation and making it worse for everyone. I'm hoping you can just leave this alone, and hopefully Niko will decide on his own to take the correct actions going forward.
I will say that in our long conversation, Niko never once expressed any desire to ever talk to or see Melissa ever again. I think if he simply lets it go (or alternately, uses the legal system to challenge the restraining order), he can heal much faster.
Good luck.
LOL
lololololol
bro put his headphones up his nose loolololol "please feel sorry for me" is the only play a soft liberal faggot has tho =]
lol im so scared niko stay down chump 0% money gained on gofundme LOL, btw this is just fun for me and any1 who feels bad for you just can relate to being just as pathetic as you =]
