ENCE and HAVU end PC partnerships following Russian drone controversy

Finnish esports organizations ENCE and HAVU have effectively ended their partnership with the Turku, Finland-based Jimm's PC-Store following reports that the company was suspected of selling drones to Russia through an intermediary.

Finnish outlet Iltalehti reported that the United States, along with the Netherlands and Finland, conducted an investigation into Gabriel Temin last year as his companies Luminor and Siberica has ties to Russian businesses relating to defense equipment sales.

In the ensuing investigation, it found that the Estonian-born, French-passport-holding CEO was guilty of exporting military equipment to Russia via Kazakhstan and of breaching sanctions set by the European Union. Gabriel Temin is also currently sanctioned by the United States.

However, the investigation did not find any evidence that the drones exported by Temin's companies were involved in exporting drones purchased from Jimm's to Russia. Evidence was insufficient to prove that the equipment's final destination would have been Russia instead of Kazakhstan.

The report from Iltalehti, published on April 7th, alleged that 3,500 drones were acquired from Jimm's PC-Store in Turku for approximately €2 million, or about $2.15 million USD.

Jimm's CEO Veli Nietula commented on the article in a public forum admitting to the sales and that they did not perform sufficient checks. The CEO claims to have worked with authorities on the matter and ended the business relationship when informed about the suspicious activity. At the same time, the CEO points to the investigation being unable to prove that the drones ultimately ended up in Russia.

In response to Jimm's statements ENCE posted on X that they have "decided to end our partnership effectively immediately" and HAVU also stated it would no longer work with the company "due to recent issues".