nbgee12 detained, permanently banned following SSD theft at IEM Dallas 2024

Dust2.us has confirmed with multiple sources that Adam "nbgee12" Zanzoul was detained by authorities at IEM Dallas 2024 in the early hours of May 31st after trespassing and stealing several solid-state drives (SSDs) designated for player use. The former Elevate stand-in was barred from the event and has been permanently banned from the FACEIT platform for his actions over the weekend.

nbgee12 admitted he gained access to an unsecured backstage production area where he was able to steal Jake "Stewie2K" Yip, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač, and Guy "NertZ" Iluz's SSDs.

The ban sees nbgee12 permanently barred from competing on NA's most-used platform after a long line of incidents involving the player. Previous incidents include a permanent ban for ban evasion on ESEA, a ban from FACEIT Pro League due to attempted matchfixing in the FPL-C qualifier, and a history of offensive and unprofessional conduct online and in person.

The baffling decision by the 19-year-old semi-professional player comes just 60 days after nbgee12 was unbanned from FACEIT as ESL lifted his 100-year ban evasion ban due to new policies on the platform. While Dust2.us had confirmed with multiple sources that nbgee12 trespassed and engaged in theft of the SSDs at the IEM Dallas 2024 on May 31st, in a strange and legally inadvisable move, nbgee12 went on stream yesterday with Take Flyte player and streamer Collin "CoJoMo" Moren to discuss the incident.

In the hour-plus interview with CoJoMo, nbgee12 admitted to gaining access to a backstage production area at IEM Dallas 2024 and stealing Jake "Stewie2K" Yip, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač, and Guy "NertZ" Iluz's SSD from a larger pile of SSDs. He then admitted to bringing the hard drives back to his hotel room at the Omni Dallas Hotel. It is important to note that the Omni Dallas Hotel is connected to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center via skybridge.

At the beginning of the interview, nbgee12 admits to getting into the IEM Dallas 2024 venue during the night, being "somewhere where he wasn't supposed to be" and "tak[ing] stuff he wasn't supposed to."

The "tl;dr," as nbgee12 retells, describes how he headed to the venue at 4:00 AM local time after sitting around on Discord with an unknown group of people who watched him gain access to the secured area and take the player's SSDs. Tournament organizers use these SSDs to store players' configurations, in-game settings, and other important files in an anti-tampering measure to protect competitive integrity and allow for quick swaps of players' setups.

At the time of publication, a picture of nbgee12 allegedly holding Stewie2K's SSD was shared with the people nbgee12 streamed to on Discord. Dust2.us has confirmed that the SSDs match those used at IEM Dallas 2024 but was unable to verify the picture came from nbgee12's private stream.

Later in the stream, nbgee12 claims that he was detained by the Dallas Police Department after ESL determined he was responsible for the theft via security camera footage. He even provided a picture to CoJoMo allegedly of him in a backstage area with Dallas Police and ESL staff. He claims that the police and ESL elected not to charge him with a crime but banned him from the event.

At the time of the stream nbgee12's ban was originally for five years before ESL made it permanent today. Before his ban was made permanent, nbgee12 attempted to make a case for why he deserves a shorter ban, with his scattered and spurious explanation revolving around the theft simply being trolling, that he's a "moron", and that he has never been arrested or done something like this before.

For a player who seemingly has a view on playing Counter-Strike 2 competitively and even attended the PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR in March, the lack of foresight to not steal from the largest tournament organizer and multiple hugely popular players shows an incomprehensible level of immaturity.

Considering nbgee12 has only ever associated and found common cause with the current Elevate roster, who have in the past been pariahs for racist and offensive comments, having a history of stealing from tournament organizers is unlikely to help nbgee12 even in the highly unlikely situation ESL FACEIT Group decide to reduce his ban in the future.

Dust2.us contacted ESL FACEIT Group and the Dallas Police Department for more information regarding nbgee12's trespassing and theft charges and detainment but did not receive a reply ahead of publication.

When asked for comment, nbgee12 claimed that he was influenced by marijuana usage and wanton reckless behavior for his actions at the Kay Bailey Convention Center. In taking the SSDs, he thought it would be a significantly more minor violation than it was. In his own words, nbgee12 explains that "Words cannot adequately express how humiliating and dejecting this has been. I am genuinely disgusted by my behavior and am committed to learning from this experience."