The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened a case of fake CS: GO matches in North America with the assistance of the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC).
The ESIC Commissioner noted that the FBI is interested in investigating the activities of organized groups that are engaged in fake matches with the participation of e-sportsmen. There are not many players involved in this case, compared to the overall scale of the problem, Smith said.
“There is a group of people whose names, I hope, we can name within two weeks, which appears in a much larger investigation. Unfortunately, we will need a little more time to complete it. This is because this small group of players was running an organized MDL fake match activity for North America.
Among all the players who made bets in America, there is a group that manipulated the results of the matches. Here, third-party betting groups bribe players, and not the esports players themselves make bets. This organized activity has been going on for a very long time. ”
Smith added that the FBI began investigating fake matches relatively recently and special units still lack the experience and legal basis in this area to work effectively:
“We started working with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, which recently created a fake match investigation unit. They are good, but they lack experience, because in America there were no big cases in this area. ”
It is assumed that the outcome of the proceedings will affect not only the professional CS: GO scene, but also the players in Valorant. In September 2020, after the first statements by ESIC about the investigation of fake matches at the ESEA Mountain Dew League, insiders reported that the esports players involved in these cases had already switched to a new discipline.
Earlier, the Esports Integrity Commission had banned a number of Australian players for a year for participating in match fixing. Then ESIC announced that it had transferred the case to law enforcement agencies.