ESIC suspends 37 coaches following CS:GO spectator bug investigation

A total of 37 CS:GO coaches have been handed bans ranging from 3.75 to 36 months after just 20 percent of the 99,650 available demos underwent review, ESIC announced today.

While the bans are technically only for ESIC tournaments, the commission called on non-member tournaments to honor the suspensions “for the purpose of protecting the CS:GO esports scene internationally.”

Due to the large amount of data yet to be parsed, ESIC said a final report will be published at the end of October. As of Sept. 28’s investigation, only 0.1 percent of the replays have been flagged as a “positive indication of spectator bug abuse.” But the organization said that its current findings likely “comprise the most substantial cases of abuse.”

ESIC said there was no method of finding out if associated teams “were complicit in the exploitation” of the bug, so it refrained from making a statement and urging fans to avoid speculation.

The organization believes that in spite of the “tough” findings, stakeholders should get behind a “clean” CS:GO, “a fair competition between players and teams doing their very best to win.”

“We understand that these revelations have been tough for many people within the CS:GO community, but we believe it is in the long-term best interests of the game and all of esports for integrity breaches to be dealt with head-on,” ESIC said. “We see our job as being to ensure that that happens and that corrupt and bad actors are rehabilitated or removed.”

The spectating bug allowed coaches to essentially become spectators, glitching in a specific portion of the map and rotating angles freely, providing near-unfettered vision of player movements.

In an ironic twist of fate, former Na’Vi coach Sergey “⁠starix⁠” Ischuk—who said he knew about the bug four years ago in his own statement—has been implicated after the investigation. Starix used the exploit in 15 rounds in a matchup vs. Tricked in the Katowice 2017 Europe qualifier.

Here’s the full list of coaches banned for their infractions, along with the number of cases they were found guilty of, the total length of their suspension, and the concessions provided due to a confession or rendering aid in the investigation.

• Slaava “⁠Twista⁠” Räsänen (Two cases) – 15.75 months (12.50 percent concessions)
• Peter “⁠casle⁠” Sørensen (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Rodrigo “⁠dinamo⁠” Haro (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Arno “⁠ArnoZ1K4⁠” Junior (One) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Allan “⁠Rejin⁠” Petersen (Seven) – 19.8 months (45 percent)
• Eliomar “glou” Hernandez (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Arthur “⁠prd⁠” Resende (Five) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Alexey “⁠NooK⁠” Kozlovskiy (One) – 7.5 months (25 percent)
• Henrique “⁠rikz⁠” Waku (One) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Alessandro “⁠Apoka⁠” Marcucci (Six) – 5.4 months (85 percent)
• Aleksandr “⁠zoneR⁠” Bogatiryev (16) – 36 months (Zero percent)
• Germán “hellpa” Morath (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Egor “fuRy^” Morin (One) – 7.5 months (25 percent)
• Aset “⁠Solaar⁠” Sembiyev (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Nicolai “⁠HUNDEN⁠” Petersen (Two) – Eight months (20 percent)
• Ricardo “⁠dead⁠” Sinigaglia (Five) – 6.5 months (35 percent)
• Nicholas “⁠guerri⁠” Nogueira (Two) – Four months (60 percent)
• Faruk “⁠pita⁠” Pita (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Erik “⁠AKIMOV⁠” Akimov (One) – 7.5 months (25 percent)
• Ivan “⁠F_1N⁠” Kochugov (Six) – 8.75 months (12.50 percent)
• Bruno “⁠ellllll⁠” Ono (Three) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Pedro “⁠peu⁠” Lopes (Two) – Five months (Zero percent)
• Robert “⁠RobbaN⁠” Dahlström (One) – 5.5 months (45 percent)
• Mariusz “⁠Loord⁠” Cybulski (Two) – Six months (40 percent)
• Anton “⁠ToH1o⁠” Georgiev (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Andrey “⁠Andi⁠” Prokhorov (One) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Milan “⁠pepik⁠” Gellebra (One) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Morgan “⁠B1GGY⁠” Madour (Three) – 7.5 months (25 percent)
• Christian “⁠chrille⁠” Lindberg (Two) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• starix⁠ (One) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Alexander “⁠ave⁠” Holdt (One) – Six months (40 percent)
• Jasmeet “⁠RoSeY⁠” Gill (One) – 10 months (Zero percent)
• Sergey “⁠lmbt⁠” Bezhanov (Three) – 7.5 months (25 percent)
• Henrik “⁠FeTiSh⁠” Christensen (One) – 3.75 months (25 percent)
• Mikołaj “⁠miNirox⁠” Michałków (One) – 3.75 months (25 percent)
• Nikolay “⁠pNshr⁠” Paunin (One) – 3.75 months (25 percent)
• Casper “⁠ruggah⁠” Due (One) – 3.75 months (25 percent)