ESIC ban 4pack and retchy; clarify status of nosraC, J0LZ, and vek in ongoing matchfixing investigation
After a five month wait, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) have released a major update for the general public regarding their investigation into the ESEA matchfixing scandal that made waves in the North American scene earlier this year. They have formally released statements on the statuses of Sebastian "retchy" Tropiano, Kevin "4pack" Pryzpasniak, Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly, David "J0LZ" Jolin, and Alex "vek" Voynov with the caveat that their punishments are subject to change pending the results of their investigations that remain ongoing.
A number of events have prolonged the investigation, including the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) getting involved and conducting an investigation of their own. In that vein, ESIC have formally announced that they have become privy to "compelling evidence" that "organized crime groups and foreign betting syndicates" were involved in the events that transpired in ESEA Premier Season 35.
Most recently, the bans on three of the five originally implicated players expired on ESEA and were not renewed, allowing nosraC, J0LZ, and vek to return to competitve CS:GO if they chose to do so.
ESIC clarified their stance on nosraC, noting that they felt that the 111 days that he was banned from April 2nd to July 22nd of this year were sufficient for his tangential role in the recorded conversation:
After assessing Mr. O’Reilly’s participation in the conversation, ESIC further engaged in investigatory lines of enquiry to seek out any evidence of further involvement in any corrupt behavior beyond the recording. As at 22 July 2021, ESIC has concluded that there is currently no evidence that suggests that, unlike Mr. Tropiano and Mr. Przypasniak, Mr. O’Reilly perpetrated any other breaches of the Code. Consequently, time served by Mr. O’Reilly under effective suspension from the period of 2 April 2021 to 22 July 2021 has been deemed, by the Commissioner, as a sufficient sanction proportionate to his offence and he has been free since 22 July 2021, to play in ESIC member events.
Notably, Sebastian "retchy" Tropiano and Kevin "4pack" Przypasniak were not unbanned on ESEA when the punishments for the other three lapsed, leading one to infer that a line had been drawn between the pair and the three other previously mentioned players when it came to culpability for the incident and the subsequent level of punishment that would be handed down. The statement released by ESIC confirms that inference, noting that they have further evidence that 4pack and retchy continued to violate the ESIC Anti-Corruption Code.
From ESIC's perspective J0LZ and vek are both only guilty of being named at this time and have not been connected to any evidence that constitutes an official breach of their Anti-Corruption Code:
As at the date of this release, Alex "vek" Voynov and David "J0LZ" Jolin, both named during the audio recording, are not currently charged with any breach of the Code and are free, as far as ESIC is concerned, to participate in any ESIC member event.
Going forward, updates to this investigation and other ongoing ESIC investigations will be found here, on their Open Investigations Register, a part of their Transparency Initiative announced on Saturday.
At this time the five North American players mentioned in the recording obtained by Dust2.us players, with the recommendations ESIC has made for their individual cases, are as follows:
| Player | Ban Status |
 Kevin "4pack" Przypasniak |
Expires 4/1/2026 |
 Sebastian "retchy" Tropiano |
Expires 4/1/2026 |
| Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly |
Served, 111 days |
| Alex "vek" Voynov |
No ESIC sanction |
| David "J0LZ" Jolin |
No ESIC sanction |
nosraC has been welcomed with open arms back to ChocoCheck and J0LZ has linked up with Recon 5, but at this time the future of vek remains uncertain. Both ChocoCheck and Recon 5 are slated to make their ESEA Premier Season 38 debuts in Week 3 of play, both in Group A.
