Riot Games, owner of Valorant Esports, announced in a statement today significant sanctions against members of the former Resurgence Valorant team for manipulating the outcome of a competitive match.
Mastermind and Financier Suspended for 3 Years
The roster of former Resurgence Valorant team was suspended by the operator for a match-fixing scheme in the match against the BlackBird Ignis from the Ignition Series events in the Asian region at the EPULZE Royal Sea Cup in September last year.
“Maintaining the competitive integrity of our tournaments is our top priority and we take such matters extremely seriously.”
Official Statement, Riot Games
The two players at the center of the match-fixing, Malcolm “germsg” Chung and Ryan “Dreamycsgo” Tan, who conspired to bet against their team received 3-year bans from VCT events for violating rules 7.2.1 and 7.2.4 of the operator’s Global Competition Policy.
Malcolm Chung came up with the betting scheme against their own team Resurgence, while Ryan Tan provided the capital for the bet, Riot Games clarified in the statement.
Chung also informed the rest of the Resurgence roster about the bet, but they refused to throw the match, yet concealed the issue from their management to avoid placing their contracts at risk, as well as from Valorant Esports officials to avoid any penalties.
Resurgence lost the match 2-0 and Chung attempted to pay off other individuals in the Resurgence roster, but they rejected the money. The Resurgence roster disbanded one month after the match.
Bans for the Others Too
The other players from the Resurgence roster were also sanctioned by Riot Games, but they will serve much shorter bans, due to their level of culpability and cooperation with the investigation launched by Valorant Esports.
A 1-year ban from VCT events received Justin “Boplek” Wong Chong Cheng and Sengdala “Jabtheboy” Jamnalong, while Du Min “Mortdecai” Yeo and Benedict “Benaf” Tan were suspended for a period of 6 months.
“All players are expected to abide by the rules of fair play, agreed upon prior to participation in the tournaments. Violations of the rules of fair play will not be tolerated by VALORANT Esports.”
Official Statement, Riot Games
All sanctions are considered to have begun from April 22, 2021, the date when Valorant Esports suspended the players and launched an investigation on the matter.
It is not clear what effect the bans will have on the members of the former Resurgence team which disbanded in May and since then rebranded itself as RSG, trying to rebuild from the ground up.