ESIC bans joel for life

Joel "joel" Holmlund was found to have breached several of the Esports Integrity Commission's codes of conduct and has been issued a lifetime ban by the esports watchdog.

joel was playing for BC.Game in August 2024 when he was banned by the Akros anti-cheat upon joining the server for a match against B8 in CCT Season 2 Europe Series 7.

Akros said that there was no possibility that it could have been a false positive but joel maintained his innocence at the time.

ESIC found that the Swede had a "premium hardware cheat" that was detected by the Akros anti-cheat and later confirmed via forensic analysis. After ESIC sent the charges in writing, joel admitted to attempting to cheat. The esports watchdog delayed the release of the statement in order to give joel a chance to find employment.

However, at the expiration of their grace period, joel "issued a threat to blackmail ESIC, with fabricated allegations, in response to ESIC’s intention to make the matter public."

ESIC ruled that joel breached one clause of the commission's anti-corruption code and 11 clauses of its code of conduct. This lifetime ban prohibit joel from participating "in any capacity" in all events hosted, organized, or affiliated with ESIC members. ESIC also recommends non-members and game publishers, Valve included, to enforce the ban.

joel was previously suspended by ESIC while a match-fixing investigation was ongoing back in 2023 although no conclusive evidence of the offense was found. ESIC granted the Swede a second chance after this incident as he was cooperative and willing to seek professional help for his gambling addiction.

The 20-year-old was once regarded as one of Sweden's top prospects and played for organizations such as GODSENT and Monte before joining BC.Game and getting banned for cheating.