Female CS:GO pro leaves GamerLegion as ESL begins cheating inquiry

A second pro player has departed the GamerLegion Prism female CS:GO squad in as many days, with Luna “ManeschijnX” Akkermans quitting the team over “recent events” amidst allegations of cheating on prior accounts.

ManeschijnX’s departure immediately follows Chloe “KittyTM” Geaney’s removal from the squad on Monday after evidence arose of racist and discriminatory messages posted by KittyTM prior to her signing on with GamerLegion. The squad, which previously played as Let Her Cook, was acquired three days ago.

The organization has yet to comment on ManeschijnX’s decision to step down from the team. The 22-year-old released a Sept. 26 statement on Twitter, saying they had made the decision to part ways with the German org “due to the recent events.”

ManeschijnX also added they were working with tournament organizer ESL and Counter-Strike platform FACEIT in their “ongoing investigation” of GamerLegion Prism’s situation over allegations of cheating on a prior account under another alias.

Former esports player Esmee Pauw accused ManeschijnX of hacking both recently and under their prior alias, “Bentas.” Pauw alleges Bentas, who was banned on FACEIT and in other Beneleux-based events, “decided to change his identity and ‘become a woman’ to play in [the] women’s league,” in order to continue competing in professional Counter-Strike.

Pauw followed up with a statement saying she was in contact with GamerLegion and had sent the org evidence, including individual clips of cheating as well as a Steam account that she claims shows ManeschijnX mocking transgenderism by changing their Steam alias.

Dot Esports has reached out to GamerLegion but has not received a response at the time of this article’s publication.

ManeschijnX is famous for being one-fifth of the Netherlands female squad that attended and subsequently won the IESF Women’s World Championship over Argentina in late August. They joined the Let Her Cook lineup for the ESL Impact season four open qualifier, where the squad successfully qualified for the women’s top flight.

The squad was acquired by GamerLegion on Saturday, Sept. 23 but has yet to play an official match under their new org.

GamerLegion Prism, now down to just three active players, is expected to line up for their next ESL Impact season four match later today. They are slotted to play NAVI Javelins. It is not clear yet whether the squad will field replacements for the series.