Vatan Platform CEO Pooyan Mokhtari cheating on employees

Vatan Platform is now at the center of a scandal, as multiple former employees went public with claims of sudden terminations, unpaid salaries, and total silence from the leadership.

Since the crisis has been revealed, the audience expects the CEO to respond to these public claims, but he has not yet done so.

The situation first came to light through a pair of viral posts from former team members. They describe a complete lack of communication from Vatan’s leadership, naming CEO Pooyan Mokhtari and Rickard Prieto as central figures in what is being labeled a breakdown in employee trust and corporate responsibility.

Artashes Vardanyan was the first employee who posted on social media a month ago, exposing what he described as unethical treatment and sudden termination at Vatan Platform. He pointed directly to Pooyan Mokhtari and Rickard Prieto as those responsible for bringing him into the company, and ultimately for the way he was let go.

Contrasting realities on social media, as Vatan Platform continues to promote its new game

Despite the growing number of public accusations from former employees, Vatan Platform’s latest post on LinkedIn, published just four days ago, paints a very different picture. In the post, the company highlights the development journey of its latest game, Captain Vardan, celebrating the team’s creativity, precision, and dedication. 

Vatan is still active on Instagram as well. Several hours ago, the company posted stories and added those to its highlights called “Vatan Originals”. The stories were again, dedicated to its latest game – Captain Vardan.

There is no mention of the internal terminations.

Pooyan Mokhtari’s PR vs. Reality

Vatan’s CEO speaks about celebrations, but not about the crisis.

As we see, Vatan’s CEO Pooyan Mokhtari hasn’t been active on Linkedin for a while. His latest post on Linkedin was all about praising his company, describing it as more than just a business. 

Six days ago, Mokhtari posted on Instagram concerning the company’s game launch. He expressed pride in the company’s progress and ambition.

We aim to be the best. The first. The most trusted. We punch above our weight.

We believe in the culture and mindset we’ve built as a team and family… We are confidently moving forward to become one of the fastest-growing companies to reach a $1B valuation.

Again, the post makes no mention of the recent internal issues, the sudden termination of staff, or the reports of unpaid salaries. This leaves many in the iGaming community questioning the disconnected state between public messaging and reality.

TheGamblest has talked to the employees

TheGamblest has investigated and uncovered a series of employee testimonies that paint a troubling picture of the internal culture at Vatan Platform. Former team members spoke with us directly, revealing their own experiences.

Marc Fourre, former Graphic Designer at Vatan/Kahntech:

I’ve worked for Kahntech/Vatan as a graphic designer from October 2024 to December 2024. First of all, I had no on-boarding process as the senior designer that was supposed to take care of it disappeared a few days before I arrived and no one seemed concerned about it, i had to learn the structure of the company by myself  and catch up with the workload he left when vanishing. Creativity was not required anyway, as the main project was to build a casino copying another brand called BC games, to a plagiarism level.

He also mentioned:

I have been told that it would be complicated for me to take holidays during christmas time as was just starting, but then got fired 2 days before Christmas. After getting laid off, it was then a struggle to get paid my last salary, and had to threaten legal actions to finally receive my due. The CEO is pretty immature, mainly making sex/childish jokes (even interrupting people during meetings to throw a pun, followed by forced laughs) and sounded as narcissistic as Donald Trump.

Margarita Yolchyan, former SEO Specialist at Vatan Platform:

I was hired as an SEO Specialist at Vatan Platform and assigned to manage 4 products simultaneously. I dedicated myself fully, working hard to deliver results. However, just one month into the role, I discovered that all my accesses had been suddenly closed without any prior notice, explanation, offboarding process, or salary compensation. It was a deeply unprofessional experience that underscored the importance of transparency and fair treatment in the workplace

Margarita also posted on Linkedin:

This experience is a reminder: not every company that calls itself a “startup” deserves your time or talent. Do your due diligence, ask the hard questions, and don’t ignore red flags.

Anahit Petrosyan, former Head of Sales at Vatan Platform:

On the evening of June 17, without prior notice or explanation, access to internal tools like Gmail and Slack was suddenly blocked for nearly the entire team.

We believed in the project, contributed with full dedication, and trusted the leadership. However, the lack of transparency and respect for the people who helped build the company is deeply unsettling.

I’m sharing this not only to raise awareness but also in the hope that such practices stop being normalized in our industry. People deserve clarity, fairness, and the dignity of proper closure.

According to Anahit, no offboarding process followed, nor any official communication from management. And the salaries were left unpaid, as Anahit also stated in her post.

Zaruhi Muradyan, former Frontend Engineer at LoranLord/Khantech/Vatan:

I was fired without prior notice, at the end of my last day, right after I received a thank you for a demo of my recent work and right before going on vacation, planned and approved a month ago.

The conversation was conducted by Elena Polyschuk, an extremely incompetent HR specialist who literally told me: “We are not here to discuss the reasons for your termination, but to ensure that you complete your tasks within an hour.” I never received my last salary. I spoke with lawyers and they said that my contract with the company was a fraud.

During my time there, many people were fired without notice. The management was very bad and they did not care about the team, but their own income.

The work environment was extremely unpleasant, Pooyan Mokhtari is extremely unprofessional, he lacks common sense and emotional intelligence.

The industry watches on: What to expect next from Vatan Platform?

This situation raises important questions about how startups operate, particularly in fast-paced sectors like iGaming, where rapid growth can sometimes come at the cost of internal stability.

While the full picture has yet to emerge, the accounts shared by former employees point to a breakdown in communication and trust that deserves closer attention. And this story reflects not only individual frustrations but also broader concerns about transparency, leadership, and how companies manage difficult transitions.

Whether Vatan Platform chooses to respond or remains silent, this moment could shape how it is perceived, not just by its former team, but by the wider industry watching closely.