Spirit conducts investigation into w0nderful match-fixing allegations

1-11-2022 17:21

The young Ukrainian AWPer is among a raft of players accused by former ESIC investigator Alexey "Yarabeu" Kurlov.

Following accusations of match-fixing levelled at Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov, Spirit have released a statement saying that they are cooperating with an ESIC investigation into the player, as well as conducting an internal investigation of their own.

w0nderful joined Spirit back in June

The allegation levelled at w0nderful is that during his tenure with a small Ukrainian team by the name of MAJESTY, Yarabeu himself played a role in orchestrating and paying the players to fix matches. Yarabeu revealed the details of this allegation in a report by Dexerto's Richard Lewis, claiming that he was an off-the-books owner of MAJESTY at the time.

The accuser, Alexey "Yarabeu" Kurlov, spent three months with ESIC investigating supposed instances of match-fixing. Another report from Dexerto revealed that sources within ESIC stated Yarabeu "didn’t meet the standard required to pass his probation."

Since leaving ESIC Yarabeu has accused a plethora of teams and organisations of being involved in various cheating or match-fixing activites, including Relog Media, Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk, and Ramazan "⁠Ramz1kBO$$⁠" Bashizov, to name a few.

The announcement of the investigation comes mere days ahead of Spirit's IEM Rio Major campaign, which kicks off on November 5 with the squad having qualified directly to the Legends Stage.

Ban him if guilty

2022-11-01 17:21

10 replies

jail time pls

2022-11-01 17:22

6 replies

ARREST BUGESY FOR ALL HIS FRAUDALENT ACTIONS

2022-11-01 17:25

2 replies

+111111111111111111111111111111111111111

my man bugesy is clear

2022-11-01 17:31

jokes aside w0nderful was 15 at the time. A grown man offered money to a 15 yrs old to throw games, weird af.

2022-11-01 18:44

yarabeu or whoever he is should be on jail then, child labor abuse

2022-11-02 03:13

1 reply

None of you cared when Swag was under-age. Ban this kid if he did it. For life same as everyone else.

2022-11-02 17:36

aahhhaa

Smart jerman here

2022-11-01 17:34

are you afraid that your favorite teams will break?

2022-11-02 02:16

LOL

hahaha

wtf

LOOOL

xQc not matchfixer

3 replies

hahahahahha

2022-11-01 17:32

No need to use insults like that.

2022-11-01 17:44

aaxaxaxaxax

2022-11-02 22:42

wow

ohhh no no no no

esic lul

esic are such clown

2022-11-01 18:39

sad

big L for young player

2022-11-01 17:23

Spirit to be disqualified from the Major Astralis to replace them and win their 5th major. ez for goat device

7 replies

and then you woke up

2022-11-01 17:37

Who??

2022-11-01 17:38

4 replies

hltv.org/img/static/flags/30x20/GR.gif

2022-11-01 17:39

Best flag in Europe after France and Turkey

2022-11-01 17:53

france flag is borning af

2022-11-01 19:14

Yo le noob, Meaning and context is totally based tho.

2022-11-01 22:07

hahaha that's a joke

2022-11-01 17:42

CIS PLAYERS NOT SUPRISED

da kazhe zaebali eti 322 kloyni

2022-11-01 19:01

esic clouni ebuchie

soglasen

2022-11-01 19:19

2022-11-02 15:39

Wtf

Spirit can't catch a break...

I hope it's just rumors or hype lul

read the richard lewis article, the guy has an allergy to providing actual proof

2022-11-01 17:24

8 replies

this is what I meant by the word hype

I'm surprised it even went this far with 0 evidence

Are you talking about Lewis accusing Hobbit with no actual proof?

no, I'm talking about the "scrutinizing the ESIC whistleblower" articles" dexerto.com/csgo/scrutinizing-the-esic-w..

2022-11-01 17:40

"no actual proof", meanwhile hobbit`s teammates said about 322 + its obv if we look at his old matches

2022-11-01 17:50

>its obv if we look at his old matches can you link some of those matches where it is obv?

2022-11-01 17:56

go to hobbit`s old teammate twitter and find these matches there

2022-11-01 18:12

2022-11-01 17:48

Last major Hobbit had allegations against him as well nothing happened to him

w0w unluko

unlucky

Lol why always pulls this shit 1 week before major, just like before antwerp they removed bunch of coaches like Robban just to say after event “sorry, everything is ok you are not guilty”. ESIC go F yourself

5 replies

'former' ESIC investigator can you read? and btw, this guy has nothing to prove about it, he's just bluffing for hype without showing anything

2022-11-01 17:28

Nah, don't think he would throw shade at so many players for no reason. They will probably ban a few players at the least.

I don't believe in any single of his words until he will show proof

The guy REFUSES to show any real proof. So until he can give actual receipts, yes he is throwing shade at players

2022-11-01 18:18

Sure, but still why pull this out just before major, it is just stupid

ouch

Haha wtf

Rip another swag situation :(

He is underaged anyway so I doubt there will be harsh punishments

hltv.org/player/5021/swag

axaxa rip

swag doesn't think so

2022-11-01 17:26

the source is pretty weak

Wth they could've stfu and let it go away. If wanna do action at least after the major

I don’t get it, it is just like before antwerp with coaches, most retarded timing

2022-11-01 17:27

It's almost as if it's on purpose to damage team Spirit

2022-11-01 18:45

Weird understanding of fair play and sportsmanship.

2022-11-03 02:00

Idc about fair play and more about let the show go on first then do wathever you need to do

2022-11-03 06:38

KEKW

Someone is jelous lol

-matchfixer botderful + GOAT DENIS DEKO JUKOV !

Straight to prison

Pinnacle matchfixing? No way, i cant trust this

respect for Spirit very moral org

wonderful maybe but woro2k and ramzik are notorious enough to be convicted.

Whattttt

congratz to spirit finally someone got interested matchfixing topic

2022-11-01 17:29

so this Yarabeu only exposing ukrainians while the whole cis fixing matches every day? Seems legit. i think he was paid by russians to get rid of competitors

14 replies

whole CIS are doing it every day? Hame them, please

2022-11-01 17:36

0/8

more than half of his list of "matchfixers" were russian

Yarabeu used to organize fake matches himself, mostly on the Ukrainian scene. So he doesn't know much about how things work in Russia. "It's difficult with the Russians. Firstly, because the Russians are my direct competitors. Secondly, because the Russians are protected by guys from Chechnya. They work with Ramzik too, and they have a bigger market. I have no direct information, because they are not my teams, not my market, but indirectly, because I communicated with them, know them, I can start pulling something. Haha nice one

2022-11-01 17:54

ahahahaha

2022-11-01 17:49

he was the owner of MAJESTY

2022-11-01 17:55

so whats the reason he exposing his ex-players? Definitely money since hes scammer

2022-11-01 17:57

maybe blackmail, maybe fame/attention. There could be plenty of reasons but "being paid by the russians" makes no sense. Who exactly pays for this? Why expose big russian players like degster? Why jeopardize C9 by putting hobbit on the list? Your theory is wrong in my opinion

2022-11-01 18:00

he says he have zero proofs on russians, he only "heard" they were matchfixing. While he can provide all the proofs on ukrainians becase its "his market". Very sketchy stuff

2022-11-01 18:04

he can provide proof because they matchfixed under his org

2022-11-01 18:06

so why doesnt he tell that earlier? why just before rio major? maybe he asked wonderfull for money, he said no so guy goes with accusations

2022-11-01 21:20

I don't know the context of why he went on the podcast but initially he was naming players from many countries. The reason why now w0nderful in particular is trending is because of this article by Richard Lewis dexerto.com/csgo/scrutinizing-the-esic-w..

2022-11-01 22:04

He wasnt

2022-11-01 20:32

2022-11-02 22:43

Hope hes still playing the major

2022-11-01 17:30

It's time! hltv.org/player/21348/artfr0st

That is not very wonderful

Why did they add a picture of XQC there wtf? XQC did nothing wrong

I didn't see any proof in the articles except him talking to RL, cringe article

lol

imagine throwing your whole career for 500dollar gj w0nderful!

RL wrote 3 whole articles about how this guy is embellishing like crazy and talking about match fixing with very little hard evidence. At least wait until after the major to let the heat die down on your star awper...

2022-11-01 17:33

Rip xqc 🙏

Imagine Spirit picks up Monesy

Reading ramz1kBO$$ always cracks me up

2022-11-01 20:17

If the allegations are wonderful whats the problem

Relog Media expected

it had to be ukrainian... kkkkkkk

2022-11-01 17:35

I know where sh1ro goes after disband

expected from russians

hahahaha

woro2k: s1mple must go s1mple: who must go? "BREAKING NEWS: WORO2k, W0NDERFUL AND OTHERS ACCUSED OF MATCH FIXING"

Spirit: -Rio Major XD Nice job

So the accuser said he orchestrated fixed matches and was then in a position to research fixers at ESIC?

He has spoken a shit ton lol, now let's see how much of it was concrete.

Lol that’s what I was thinking when I read it.

Bro I read it about 5 times because it didn't make sense to me but it is what is written there right? This guy goes around offering players aged 15-16 (?) money to fix matches and then starts accusing them as if they are the scum of the earth. Don't get me wrong a player who fixes matches is absolutely not a good thing but how can you be on this guys level paying underage guys to do so knowing they'll be susceptible to it especially at those ages only to rinse them after? Bet he made some good fucking money of it too.

2022-11-01 17:52

Yeah very weird. So this guys a match fixer working as an investigator for ESIC ?

2022-11-01 18:05

+1 ?????

Wasn't Ramz1kBO$$ kicked from Syman because of matchfixing ?

Syman was banned everywhere so I think they knew what they did Also mr ramzik rn still doing 322-s being intermediary

2022-11-01 18:24

nah whole syman roster fixed matches including perfecto. Ramzik just went too blatant xd

2022-11-01 20:33

why make this statement with the most important csgo tournament right ahead? can't see how releasing this wouldn't hurt w0nderful and team spirit's performance at the major, regardless of the accusation being true

2022-11-01 17:43

Old vp be like..

2022-11-01 17:46

sad, if it is true. he is a talented young player...

"Yarabeu himself played a role in orchestrating and paying the players to fix matches. Yarabeu revealed the details of this allegation in a report by Dexerto's Richard Lewis, claiming that he was an off-the-books owner of MAJESTY at the time." Wait what? Isn't it like a crime? Shouldn't he be punished?

Like wtf , he arranged the games and then he accuses the guys he paid

Innit? Lmfao. Man is paying kids to 'commit crimes', profits himself and then goes after them (if it's true). Pathetic.

So he's a fucking crook. How does he even end up as an investigator for ESIC? Like hiring a paedophile to work at kindergarten.

he's ex esic emplyoee. He did all this stuff while being in their org

2022-11-01 18:02

That's not what the article says at all.

So he matchfixed while in esic?? lol

Very bad timing

expected from ua lul

I see ESIC - I don't believe them and in their honesty. Those guys are amateurs sucking esport for money. I wrote the same when this guys Ian Smith was on the HLTV podcast - the guy doesn't understand what he talks about just pretending. ESIC is another buffer zone between TOs and bettings to hide faults of both

Like everyobe with brain knows matchfix is standard stuff. Dunno why ppl thinks matchfixing is none existing in cs if it happens in top20 tennis players, top football clubs etc and these are most popular sports and it had place in top tournaments. I totaly dont understand why people belive that everyone is good and fair lol

9 replies

How much have you lost?

actually i won like 50k euros in 2y and I quit betting. Now I put 100e/month and bet for fun on cs/dota/tennis. You are just ignorant

2022-11-01 19:32

I'm not and I don't believe you either. In top tier sports matchfixing is pretty much non existent. In the bottom regions yes it is, but if you bet or even follow that kind of stuff what the fuck do you expect?

2022-11-01 19:40

I rly don't care if some random guy on hltv believes me or not, my money, my experience, thats all I just wanted to write my opinion about that since I'm into betting for like 12-13 years and actually matchfixing is a fact, just read some internet man. Couple of years ago there was investigation and they found out in years 2003-2006(rly dont remember exactly) matches were fixed in championship league in play offs. What does it mean? Just think.

2022-11-01 19:55

There was never definite proof for those CL fixings youre talking about, just rumors. Cba to have this discussion either because you wont give me any proof of top tier sports matchfixing because there barely is any. Yes it does exist, in lower tiers of sports.

2022-11-01 20:00

rumors with ppl sentenced to prison? Also MIlan, Juventus, Lazio and 2 or 3 more italian clubs with big punishments are rumors? You rly know shit man. sorry

2022-11-01 20:14

That wasnt CL, that was Serie A xx

2022-11-01 20:27

yeah now even top10 teams filled with players that used to fix and maybe still fixing unimportant games. Look at spirit

2022-11-01 17:59

+1 people dont want to hear the truth

2022-11-01 18:50

youngster time

Looks like basically every CIS Tier-2 player has match-fixing allegations already, kinda crazy.

xqc match fixer

BYE BYE XQC. WHY CIS SO UNFAIR. TOXIC AND UNFAIR. CHEATERS!

ahahahah

I wish they kick him and ban everywhere tbh same as other teams and players Oh I forgot so if they do there are will be no games on hltv

2022-11-01 18:22

spirit: did you fix? w0nderful: no. spirit: ok. thanks. w0nderful: np. spirit twitter: w0nderful did nothing wrong.

its gonna be like that, exactly

2022-11-01 19:58

paid organisation and his team check him -2iq

2022-11-01 18:26

-wond+deko pls

2022-11-01 18:28

#freewonderful

2022-11-01 18:33

-wonderful +el1an

Has ESIC confirmed that this guy worked for them?

2022-11-01 18:41

nvm, in the article ESIC is quoted as saying "(He) didn’t meet the standard required to pass his probation."

2022-11-01 18:43

it must be russians

You do realize he's from Ukraine and the team that supposedly matchfixed while he was in it was 5 Ukrainians right

2022-11-03 01:10

that was irony...

2022-11-03 01:17

Well HLTV refuses to ban racists when its towards Russians so you never know these days

2022-11-03 01:24

ye, no ban for racist, nazi, and all sorts of hate speech double standards these days...

2022-11-03 01:48

ban incoming

2022-11-01 18:57

esic lmao

man xqc fell off

2022-11-01 19:08

Rip

2022-11-01 19:12

Lol They believed some noname without any proofs and now the guy's career is in danger

esic is a fucking joke

1. Organize matchfixing and get first-hands evidence against the players 2. Join ESIC and blackmail players and orgs 3. ... 4. PROFIT! This is literally racketeering.

2022-11-01 19:20