Former EIC employee accuses CSGO pros of match fixing cover image

Former EIC employee accuses CSGO pros of match fixing

A former Esports Integrity Commission employee has accused some prominent CSGO players of match fixing.

Former Esports Integrity Commission employee Alexei "Yarabeu" Kurlov has come forward with some serious accusations against Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros.

Yarabeau went on Konstantin "LENINIW" Sivko's Twitch stream earlier this week to discuss match fixing. Yarabeau claimed that the Polaris Esports Dota 2 team and some European CSGO pros have been involved in some suspicious activities. In one instance, according to Yarabeau, bookmakers canceled bets on one of Polaris' games, making him even more concerned.

"It was a group of people from Chechnya. They would take players who had qualified, bring them to a Russian region where they had some jocks, and put the esports players on a bootcamp. Then some 'respectable' people would come to their backs saying – you’re not winning this match. And the team would lose," Yarabeau recalled.

Yarabeau claimed that he has gone to Valve with his accusations but nothing came of the discussions. He told LENINIW that it's difficult to prove people are taking bribes or purposefully losing matches, and investigators have a tough time wading through scams due to the anonymous nature of crypto transactions.

Some of the accused CSGO players include:

  •  Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov
  • Dmitriy "Dima" Bandurka
  • Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov
  • Hristiyan "REDSTAR" Pironkov
  • Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen
  • Ramazan "Ramz1k" Basizov
  • Vladislav "FinigaN" Usov
  • Volodymyr "Woro2k" Veletniuk

CSGO pros react to match fixing allegations

The Counter-Strike pros that were mentioned in the allegations denied any match fixing activities. Dima came forward to say that he has "never done a 322 in my life." He said he has "zero wrongdoing" on his part.

"My conscience and reputation are completely clear. I have always played and continue to play fairly, giving my best," Dima said.

The Russian CSGO pro added that he wants an apology from Yarabeau. Then degster also called out Yarabeau, calling him a "moron."

Match fixing is nothing new in the Counter-Strike community. There was a massive controversy surrounding match fixing surrounding iBUYPOWER a while back. Then ESEA players were accused of match fixing. After that, there was a more recent match fixing scandal in the CIS region earlier this year, including many well-known players like Cloud9's Abay "HObbit" Khasenov.