Rebirth and Russian Canadians players involved in match-fixing

American portal Dust2.us published an audio recording in which three players from teams participating in the North American division of ESEA MDL discuss the match-fixing of two matches. The evidence of rigged games was published shortly after Ian Smith, head of the Sports Integrity Commission (ESIC), announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had joined the investigation.

Former Rebirth players Sebastian "retchy" Tropiano, Kevin "4pack" Przepasniak and Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly openly conferred about intentions to lose a match against Incognito for financial gain in the October 2020 record. The conversation also mentioned a game against the Russian Canadians, which also implied a contractual nature.

According to published information, the mentioned matches with Incognito and Russian Canadians did not take place due to Rebirth denied the offer. As a result of journalistic investigation, it turned out that the organizers of a rigged match took this decision because the administrators of the ESEA MDL intended to record the upcoming games.

Russian Canadians players Alex "vek" Voynov and David "J0LZ" Jolin were also complicit in this case of fraud. They agreed to take advantage of their rivals' radar to gain an advantage, in exchange for a portion of Tropiano's bitcoin betting profits.

Notably, Voinov and Jolin denied any involvement in match-fixing in an interview with Dexerto.

A full transcript of the audio recording, published on Dust2.us:

retchy: No it would be sus[picious] if you played Incognito like the full game, but if you joined at half, it would look real. Or not even at half, in the middle of the game while it's going, you just join, "my internet's back", we get shrek out of the server and it looks normal. 

4pack: I'm not doing it, bro.

retchy: As long as shrek plays like four or five rounds, it's gonna look good.

4pack: And the fact that you didn't even say anything about the Russian Canadians game, that's even more fucked, but...

retchy: What?

4pack: What do you mean what? You didn't say anything about it.

retchy: What do you mean?

4pack: Okay, now you're just acting dumb. 

retchy: No, I'm serious, what are you talking about?

4pack: What do you mean? I was just talking yesterday about winning a match so we can play Mythic in playoffs, you didn't say anything. Now today you just come into the TeamSpeak and you're like, "yeah, we're just gonna lose the game." Like what? *scoffs* What do you mean?

retchy: We've been planning to lose this game for the last five days; it makes the most sense out of every game in MDL. They need this win, we don't need the win, and with their IGL on radar and you off the server, it looks guaranteed real. 

nosraC: I don't know if vek will agree to radar.

retchy: He does, he agrees to radar. On the condition that I'm letting him use two Bitcoin sites, and I'm going to share profit from those two sites. And J0LZ is okay with it too. And they're not- I told them there's no way you tell battery or Saturn, it needs to look like a legit tryhard game.

4pack: Alright, whatever. But I'm not setting up the Incognito game, I told you.

retchy: I know, I don't think you should, you should join in while shrek is playing, like three rounds in.

4pack: No. *laughs*

retchy: No, the main thing is that if it shows six people on HLTV, it'll look so good. 

4pack: Well, you can set it up or something, I dunno. 

retchy: I'm going to restart for [ESEA Pro] client, hold on.

Stephen Hanna, Director of Global Strategy and Partnerships at ESIC, said that former Rebirth team members are already involved in a case that is being investigated with the FBI and other interested parties. The first part of the report is expected to be released by the end of next week.

We have been in constant communication with the FBI on this matter and are also involving other stakeholders to ensure that players that have acted in an adverse manner are expelled from esports entirely, not just from one title.

Our indicative timeline is to have our first notices of charge prepared in final form for distribution to the offending parties by the end of next week, subject to cooperation with the FBI and other key stakeholders.

Origin: www.dust2.us