A district court in Georgia has awarded $200,000 to a defendant who sued DimeSports.net for fraud.

The ruling finds that John Lowery of Michigan fairly won DimeSports’ salary-cap NFL game in 2008, but the top prize went to a higher scorer who was allowed to cheat the cap, was a cousin of DimeSports owner Robert Braddy and also just happened to win the $100,000 grand prize the year before — then also under circumstances heavily questioned by other competitors.

According to this recounting of basically the entire episode, Lowery sued the company after Braddy refused to work out a settlement, even while admitting that the system had allowed the team run by his cousin (Jarrod West) to break the rules.

“The same winner two years in a row for any new salary cap game is a red flag,” said our own Jeff Thomas, who testified in the case. “Couple that with a higher salary cap for the winning team and team rosters that aren’t displayed until days after the game, and that would lead any experienced fantasy game operator to expect fraud.”

The court seemed to have little trouble finding such fraud. Braddy apparently made his share of shady moves, including excusing software provider Mochanin from legal liability after previously suing the company, accusing it of the “glitch” that allowed his cousin’s team to cheat the salary cap.

Beyond that and a list of shady financial dealings, Braddy didn’t fortify his character by getting arrested for tax evasion and having cash and a stolen gun (among other items) seized from his home.

The full rundown can be found at the Yougab.com link above, and DimeSports.net appears to be dead currently. Before shutting down this season’s game a week in, however (and reportedly not yet refunding all of the entry fees), the company said its game would be back and “better than ever” in 2010.

Would it be possible to get worse?

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

- NFL.com general manager Laura Goldberg will be at the Nov. 12 NewTeeVee Live conference to talk the big business of fantasy football.

- Forbes.com recently posted a video in which national editor Michael Ozanion chats with Fantasy Sports Ventures founder Chris Russo about his company and the fantasy industry. Speaking of FSV, the company made its first actual investment in gaming in late September, when it purchased 25 games from RealTime Fantasy Sports. FSV also recently added Orangecast Social Media to its lineup.

- NovaFantasySports.com recently announced a content agreement that will place its NFL news on PlayerPress.com’s homepage.

- The Hartford Courant’s website now features the Game Forecast service provided by Accuscore.

- We may not even be to the World Series yet this year, but Sporting News already wants to know what will be on your mind for the 2010 baseball season. The staff is soliciting questions from readers for the next yearbook, offering a free copy for any query that makes it into print.

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