Washington DC, Jan. 3 -- Canadian rapper Drake has been named as part of a proposed U.S. class-action lawsuit that alleges he, and other individuals, used proceeds from a gambling website to "obscure transmissions of money," which were then used to artificially inflate his streaming music play counts, according to CBC News.

The lawsuit centres on Stake.us, the name of the U.S. website for the Curacao-based online casino operator Stake, which Drake has frequently promoted on his social media platforms.

According to the statement of claim, Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Graham, was "at the heart of the scheme" and worked alongside social media influencer Adin Ross. Both, it says, were paid to promote the platform by gambling with virtua...