forZe, Virtus.pro, Gambit & HellRaisers Accused Winstrike in Fraud Actions

CIS esports organizations forZe eSports, Virtus.pro, Gambit Esports and HellRaisers are publicly accusing Winstrike of fraud in the open letter. Representatives of the clubs claimed the unprofessionalism of the company, which in one way or another violated contractual, financial and sports obligations to the teams and players.

On behalf of forZe eSports, Virtus.pro, Gambit Esports and HellRaisers - leading teams from CIS and well-known tags in the esports world - we would like to inform the esports community about the fraudulent actions of Winstrike holding. All undersigned organizations have had experience of doing business with this company, they all have one thing in common - non-professionalism of Winstrike, which somehow violated contractual, financial and sports obligations to the teams and players. Among them was Winstrike's CEO Yaroslav Komkov, who regularly made promises to the organizations' management and also regularly rescheduled promised payments of debts.

forZe eSports

In November 2019 Winstrike sent forZe eSports a request to buy one of the player. After a long period of approval of the details, the contract was signed on January 20, 2020. According to this contract, the deadline for Winstrike's payment was 21 February, after which a penalty came into effect. After February 21, Winstrike's sports director spoke about the reorganization of the company and asked to reduce the contract amount by 50%. The forZe management agreed to the transaction on the condition that payment would arrive by the end of February. After the negotiations Winstrike representatives stopped responding to requests forZe. At the end of March, the club sent Winstrike a formal complaint - if its conditions are not met, forZe will sue.

Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro and Winstrike have agreed on the transition of the player from VP to Dota 2 in Winstrike on October 23, 2019. Payment from Winstrike was to arrive in a month. Financial obligations to the VP were fulfilled only after six months, while the player still has not received its interest under the redemption conditions.

Gambit Esports

Gambit Esports agreed in the second half of 2019 to sell Winstrike two players of  Dota 2 lineup. The documents were quickly signed and soon the players started playing under the Winstrike tag. Under the agreement Winstrike was to pay a transition fee by December 23, 2019, but despite numerous reminders, it never did. Gambit found this to be a misunderstanding and had no intention of suing Winstrike, but the club's position has now changed. This was influenced by information from other respected organisations in the CIS who also faced Winstrike's unprofessionalism.

HellRaisers

In November 2019, the esports organization HellRaisers concluded a deal with Winstrike to sell the contract of Ilya "ALOHADANCE" Korobkin. The deadline for payment was set for the end of November - this deadline was set during negotiations between the two clubs. Despite this, from December 2019 to March 2020 the Winstrike holding company carried over the payment weekly and then stopped responding to HellRaisers messages. At the beginning of March, the payment was made, but excluding penalties under the sale agreement. The penalty for the payment deferral has not been paid in full so far.

ForZe eSports, Virtus.pro, Gambit Esports and HellRaisers hope that the attention of the esports community, as well as the legal measures taken, will contribute to Winstrike's readiness to meet its commitments and to play fair and responsible games in the esports market - of course, if the organization is interested in continuing its esports activities.

We did not want to make the situation public until the last time. But the behavior of Winstrike's management does not leave us with any hope for a peaceful resolution.