EliGE discloses conflict of interest with Liquid ahead of RMR
Ahead of the PGL Copenhagen Major, the tournament organizer is seeking to disclose all potential conflicts of interest that teams or players may have with other entities that could potentially impact game integrity. Valve has pushed back on players owning stakes of teams they do not represent for years now, with the publisher handing out ultimatums to teams and owners back in 2020. A few weeks ago, PGl started disclosing conflicts of interest, such as Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin's loan to MOUZ from NIP.
As part of PGL's transparency procedures, Steve "jokasteve" Perino, General Manager of Team Liquid Counter-Strike, and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski have signed a Declaration of Conflict of Interest with regards to EliGE owning shares in Liquid while playing for Complexity.
The shares EliGE owns total 0.043% of the company, worth around $190,000 given Forbes' 2022 valuation of Team Liquid, which they estimated to be worth $440M. EliGE purchased these shares in late 2021, when he was still part of Liquid's Counter-Strike team, as part of an initiative to expand their investment group to professional video game players such as EliGE and fighting game player Juan Manuel "Hungrybox" DeBiedma as well as non-endemic individuals such as actor Asa Butterfield.
No action needs to be taken from either Liquid or EliGE past disclosing these conflicts of interest.
The conflict of interest disclosure also included Jason Lake, founder and CEO of Complexity, saying that the incoming merger of Gamesquare, Complexity's parent company, and FaZe Clan, has not induced any conflict of interests quite yet.
Complexity has no existing conflicts of interest or business entanglements as of this date. It is publicly known that Gamesquare, owner of Complexity, intends to acquire FaZe Clan and may create a conflict of interest at a future date. We intend to ensure no conflicts impede fair play if and when that transaction happens.
EliGE and Complexity's journey to the PGL Copenhagen Major begins on March 1st with the Americas RMR where they compete against teams from North and South America for one of five slots at the Major.
