ESL, Beyond the Summit and the Esports Integrity Commission levied three separate bans against MIBR team manager and coach Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia this week regarding the alleged use of a spectator bug for a competitive advantage within Counter-Strike: Global Offensive during two matches in April and June.
On Monday, ESL banned dead from coaching or competing in ESL competitions for six months, with ESIC making a recommendation on Wednesday to all non-ESIC members -- such as Flashpoint -- to honor a six-month ban as well. ESL also banned Heroic coach Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen for 12 months and Hard Legion coach Aleksandr "MechanoGun" Bogatiryev for 24 months for the use of the same bug during the ESL One: Road to Rio and DreamHack Masters Spring events.
Beyond the Summit, the organizer for cs_summit, banned dead from coaching or competing in the next two Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments they host. Beyond the Summit allege that dead knowingly used the bug for a competitive advantage in a match versus Triumph in cs_summit 6 in June after he discovered it and used it twice -- once where he asked for a timeout, disconnected and reconnected to resolve it -- during the Road to Rio event in April and May.
MIBR have been retroactively disqualified from both the ESL One: Road to Rio and cs_summit 6 events, with the prize money of $4,500 total and ESL Pro Tour points revoked.
Counter-Strike developer Valve has not issued a statement on the allegations and on whether Regional Major Ranking points earned from both events toward qualification for the ESL One: Rio Major will also be stripped from MIBR. If they are, MIBR will not qualify for a Major for the first time since the DreamHack Winter 2014 Major in November 2014. The core of the team has played for a number of organizations since then, such as Keyd Stars, Luminosity Gaming, SK Gaming and now MIBR, and won two Majors at ESL One: Cologne 2016 and MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016.
The allegations of cheating come after footage for several online events, including Road to Rio and cs_summit, were combed through by freelance Counter-Strike referee Michal Slowinski, who is the head referee for ESL One and Beyond the Summit events. When reviewing internal match demos, Slowinski noticed a bug that would allow for coaches to view the opposing team's spawn or other parts of the map, being able to pass information in real time to their players.
In a series of Twitter posts, dead denied the allegations of cheating. In a statement posted to their Twitter account on Monday, MIBR said they have suspended dead and will be conducting their own internal investigation after the ESL allegations. A MIBR representative told ESPN on Wednesday that they are investigating the newer Beyond the Summit allegations as well.
"Within the last hour we were made aware of allegations against our team manager Ricardo Sinigaglia violating the competitive integrity of ESL One: Road to Rio," MIBR said. "We take any allegations of competitive impropriety very seriously and will be suspending Ricardo, effectively immediately, while [we] investigate the claims. We will provide further comment pending the outcome of our investigation."
ESL representatives said on social media that the company will not be releasing game tape to the public, but Rush B Media founder and journalist Ryan Friend published two separate clips -- one from a MIBR match versus Yeah! Gaming on Dust 2 in the Road to Rio event in April and one against Triumph during cs_summit 6 on Overpass in June -- that showed the use of the bug.
MiBR - Yeah, Dead's Perspective, in full pic.twitter.com/FGT0EG27hJ
- Ryan (@RyanAtRBM) September 1, 2020
MiBR - Triumph, Dead's perspective, in full pic.twitter.com/5PVyKBZXzW
- Ryan (@RyanAtRBM) September 1, 2020
The bug itself was patched on Tuesday in a minor update by Valve, according to Slowinski.