The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC released information Monday on long-term bans for two former Rebirth team members, Sebastian "⁠retchy⁠" Tropiano and Kevin "⁠4pack⁠" Przypasniak. A third former member of the NA team was also sanctioned as Carson "⁠nosraC⁠" O'Reilly was given a shorter sentence for his limited participation in the conversation about match-fixing that saw his former teammates banned.

Retchy and 4pack were both banned for five years for their parts in a conspiracy to fix games in ESEA, with their bans ending on Apr. 1, 2026. NosraC was handed a 111-day ban, with his reduced sentence based on his only having spoken one "inconclusive sentence" on the recorded call. The ban for norsraC was issued retrospectively, with the player already having served his time out of the game whilst waiting for the conclusion of the case, and free to return to competition as soon as possible.

The sanctions relate to season 35 of ESEA, and specifically, a recording ESIC was provided of a conversation between the three Rebirth members which included evidence of a conspiracy to manipulate the outcome of matches in the tournament, according to the commission. In the recording, a second team, named Russian Canadians, was also referenced, but no further information was provided in the statement released today.

According to ESIC, these bans are being announced early, because the information the commission was working from was in the public domain, prompting them to treat these cases as separate from the wider investigation into NACSGO. ESIC is working "in cooperation with law enforcement and other stakeholders", according to their statement.

ESIC investigations are not stopping

ESIC themselves confirmed they are working on charges against a further 34 individuals for breaches of the Anti-Corruption Code during their participation in the ESEA Premier: North America, with 40+ other bodies involved in their attempts to draw out betting information to support the investigation. Today’s statement included a statement that ESIC suspect "organized crime groups and foreign betting syndicates were involved in fraudulent activities during the course of season 35 of the ESEA Premier: North America".

Public criticism of the time taken by ESIC to reach these conclusions has been rife as to the esports scene, with funding still an issue for esports’ first independent integrity board and legal agencies no doubt creating further delays. In reaction to this, ESIC have launched a "transparency initiative" in hopes that providing more information to the public will aid understanding of the challenges they currently face, which includes a new ‘Open Investigation Register’

Statements on other cases are expected in the near future, with Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen due to discover more information about his punishment for abusing the spectator bug on Wednesday 25th, 2021. The Danish coach has been linked to Astralis since news broke that he would not be renewing his contract with Heroic despite the org sticking by him through his initial ban, with a statement from ESIC expected at 10am CET on the date above.