ESIC bans 2 CS:GO players for 5 years due to match-fixing

Former Rebirth CS:GO players Sebastian “retchy” and Kevin “4pack” Przypasniak have been handed five-year bans by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) for breaches of the esports watchdog’s anti-corruption code. These are the first bans related to the North American match-fixing investigation, one that even has the FBI involved.

Retchy and 4pack were suspended from ESEA earlier this year after a recording of a conversation between the pair and one of their Rebirth teammates, Carson “nosraC” O’Reilly, surfaced in April, in which they were discussing plans to fix a match against Russian Canadians in ESEA Premier season 35 North America. The match in question, however, never took place since Russian Canadians forfeited.

NosraC has been banned as well, but he only received a 111-day ban, which expired in mid-July. ESIC concluded that he had only participated in one “inconclusive sentence” in the recording in question and therefore didn’t find any evidence that suggested he breached the anti-corruption code. He was banned, though, for failing to disclose his knowledge of corrupt conduct to ESIC.

Two players that are named in the aforementioned recording, Alex “vek” Voynov and David “J0LZ” Jolin, haven’t been charged with any breach of the anti-corruption code and are free, as far ESIC is concerned, to participate in any ESIC member event. The list of tournament organizers partnered with the esports watchdog is extensive and features ESL, DreamHack, BLAST, WePlay, Eden, and Relog Media. ESIC also recommends that all non-partner tournament organizers keep retchy and 4pack out of their events.

The CS:GO community has been eagerly waiting for the ESIC to issue an update related to the North American match-fixing investigation, which has been ongoing since 2020. The group is still investigating and resolving charges for 34 individuals for breach of the anti-corruption code during their participation in ESEA Premier North America.

“Most pertinent to the complications faced and the length of this investigation is ESIC’s observation of compelling evidence that suggests that organized crime groups and foreign betting syndicates were involved in fraudulent activities during the course of season 35 of the ESEA Premier: North America,” the esports watchdog said.

This isn’t the only time we’ll hear from ESIC this week, either. The group is expected to release an update on Wednesday, Aug. 25 regarding claims that Heroic’s former head coach Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen tried to share information from the team’s stratbook with another party ahead of IEM Cologne in July.