Photo: Helena Kristiansson / ESL
Three members of the Prime clan have been issued life-time bans by KeSPA after being found guilty of fixing games between January and June this year.
Reports from several Korean websites, including Kookje.co.kr, Fomos.kr and Naver.com – translated and collected in English on TeamLiquid.net – speak of a total of twelve people being involved in match-fixing five high level StarCraft 2 games from tournaments like the 2015 Proleague and GSL Code A and Code S.
The match-fixing involved the professional StarCraft 2 team Prime, led by head coach Wae-Sik “Gerrard” Park. According to the investigation, Gerrard was approached by several brokers and financial backers who initially made small donations to team Prime to earn coach’s trust before having him and players of his team engage in match-fixing. Korean news-site Fomos speculates that Gerrard’s financial difficulties from running Prime might’ve led to him acting as the middle man between the brokers and Prime’s players.
The first fixed match allegedly happened back in January 2015 when Jong-Hyuk “BboongBboong” Choi was passed approximately $4,500 (5,000,000 KRW) to lose his Proleague match. Later, Bboong’s team-mate Byeong-Heon “YoDa” Choi was also involved and was ultimately paid a total of 30,000,000 KRW, or approximately $26,600 to fix two matches. According to reports, YoDa was also blackmailed into fixing two more games with no compensation under the threat that his deed would be otherwise exposed.
The three Prime members as well as six brokers and financial backers have been indicted and arrested. Two more gambling sites recruiters have been indicted but not arrested and one involved person is still at large, the prosecutor’s report states. Additionally, in an official statement from today, Korea’s esports association KeSPA suspended the progaming licenses and issued a life-time ban towards Gerrard and YoDa. While Bboong's name is not specifically mentioned in KeSPA's statement, it says that "if any others are found to be involved in the case, they will be banned for life regardless of the result of a trial".
The association opened a disciplinary hearing today. We plan to ban Gerrard (Prime head coach) and YoDa for life and permanently suspend their licenses.
Since 2010, the association has worked alongside the rest of the industry to fight against the illegal betting that has continued to threaten the foundation of e-Sports. It is extremely regrettable that a related incident has occurred again, and we apologize to all of the fans who have shown e-Sports their love and support.
This is the association's understanding of the situation:
Toward the end September, we confirmed that PRIME's Gerrard and YoDa had been arrested and incarcerated by public prosecutors on charges related to illegal betting and match-fixing.
The case is currently under investigation, and as such we expect details to be released at a later time by the Prosecutor's office. The association will actively cooperate in the investigation, and if any others are found to be involved in the case, they will be banned for life regardless of the result of a trial. Depending on the circumstances, the association may sue for damages and/or file charges on grounds of obstruction.
Since 2013, the association has enacted regular anti-corruption education for all head coaches, coaches, and players competing in Proleague. The association also received agreements from coaching staff and players that they could be subject to measures under civil and/or criminal law should they be involved in illegal betting. Furthermore, starting in 2014, we started a program reward those who reported or confessed to illicit activities, and signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the police department's Cyber Bureau, the Korea Communications Standards Commission, and the Korea Internet Self-governance Organization for a clean e-Sports environment.
The association independently learned that Gerrard and YoDa were involved illegal betting from an anonymous source seeking a reward. While investigating the case internally, we learned that the Prosecutor's office had made arrests and were holding an investigation, and we have been receiving legal advice since then.
The association will pursue strong legal measures based on recent reports, and will be utterly uncompromising should investigators find any hint of connection. Going forward, the association's stance toward illegal betting will continue to be one of zero-compromise, and we will continue to respond strongly to create a healthy e-Sports culture.
The League of Legends team SBENU, which was run by Gerrard, will be run under the association's stewardship, and there will be no interruptions in the operations of the team.
Once again, we apologize for worrying all of the fans of Korean e-Sports and everyone who works tirelessly for the advancement of e-Sports.[redquote2]
Although Bboong's professional achievements mostly consist of mid-tier tournament successes, YoDa was counted as one of Korea's Terran hopefuls. Between 2013 and 2014, YoDa was crowned IEM Season VII world champion, placed second in 2014 WCS Europe Season 3 and fourth in MSI Beat IT 2014.
