Valorant pro from Singapore arrested for match-fixing

31 May 2023

For the second time in less than a year, the international Valorant community has been shaken by a serious match-fixing scandal in the Pacific region. After two Australian players were found guilty of fixing games during the domestic LPL Legends Autumn Cup 2021 for a total value of $ 7.000 AUD (about $ 4.500), the latest arrests for corruption in Valorant have come in Singapore. Two local players, including a recognized pro, have just been convicted for match-fixing practices dating back to 2020, when they manipulated a series of games during the Ignition Series events that year. Pro player Malcolm “Germsg” Chung, 25 years old, was sentenced to four months in jail, while his partner-in-crime Ryan “Dreamycsgo” Tan , 21 years old, was ordered to undergo a minimum of six months of so-called reformative training.

What happened exactly?

As we indicated above, the charges date back to a series of tournaments that took place in Singapore in 2020, the Ignition Series. It was not until June 2021 that the case got rolling though, as that is when the COO of esports organization RSG Resurgence Esports, Bobby Sim, went to the police to report suspicions of match-fixing. This led to Dreamycsgo and Germsg being charged with corruption in August of that same year, followed by admissions of guilt from both players on January 5, 2023, and May 26, 2023, respectively.

As far as the match-fixing itself, it turned out to be a case of gambling issues and debt accumulation. Tan and Chung met each other back in 2014 while playing Counter-Strike, and as the two grew closer, the former borrowed S$ 1.000 (about $ 740) from the latter in August of 2020. As a result of gambling losses, the debt could not be repaid on time, which led to Tan borrowing another S$ 3.000 (around $ 2.200), this time from his brother. He then transferred this amount to Chung, who was captaining RSG Resurgence Esports’ Valorant team at the time and used the money to place bets against his own team.

The scheme first started to come to light during the Epulze Royal SEA Cup in September 2020, which was part of the Valorant Ignition Series and carried a total prize pool worth $ 25.000. Resurgence lost all six maps during the group stage. The game against BlackBird Ignis stood out in particularly, as Deputy Public Prosecutor David Menon stated in his recent argumentation. According to him, Malcolm “Germsg” Chung deliberately underperformed during that match and, from his position as team captain, instructed his teammates to do the same.

Serious consequences

In total, Chung and Tan made about $ 5.100 from the whole scheme. About $ 2.700 was paid back to Tan’s brother, $ 480 went to one of Tan’s friends and Chung kept around $ 2.000 for himself. As soon as this was proven, Chung was given four months of jail time, while Tan will have to undergo at least half a year of reformative training. This includes being detained in a rehabilitation center where work and food are strictly monitored, not too dissimilar to practices at rehabilitation centers for addicts of different kinds.