Texts Reveal Counter-Strike Player Bragging About Match Fix

A long-suspected match-fixing scandal that has plagued the Counter-Strike pro-player community has resurfaced following a new investigation undertaken by The Daily Dot.

Suspicions were immediately raised in August when iBUYPOWER, a then-revered and successful pro-Counter-Strike team, were crushed 16-4 when playing against a team that were believed to be easy opponents.

Combatants of iBUYPOWER were heard laughing as they died at key points, while their use of combat knives instead of firearms was considered a curious decision. A video of the contest, which took place during CEVO Pro-season 5, can be seen above.

It was believed that multiple bets were placed just prior to the match, with wagers that garnered more than $10,000 in earnings.

While the accusations had quietened in the months that followed, an ex-girlfriend of Derek Boorn (a pro-player who has joined a new team with former members of iBUYPOWER), published text messages that appear to show him confessing that the match was thrown.

"By the way, all that drama with iBUYPOWER," he wrote, "they really did throw the match lol."

Initially, as images of text messages published by the ex-girlfriend--Ashley Leboeuf--had spread across Reddit, she began to face claims that she had forged them. However, The Daily Dot has been able to verify their authenticity after meetings with Ms. Leboeuf.

The text messages can be found below:

As the images spread to members of the ESEA (a Counter-Strike pro-player community), a representative for the group confirmed on Reddit that Derek Boorn's membership had been terminated.

"Derek is an event manager that connects Insider users with professional players for those types of events," the representative said.

"He does not work with the League division in any capacity and after reviewing things we've terminated him from his role with Insider events."

In a statement to The Daily Dot, Boorn did not address the text's authenticity, only claiming that he had "zero interest in participating in any type of revenge mission she [Leboeuf] has going."

"It really pains me to do something like this to someone I care about" -- Leboeuf

Leboeuf said it was not an easy decision to incriminate her ex-boyfriend.

"It really pains me to do something like this to someone I care about," she said. "But I can't stand that the community respects these players when they do things like this. Amateur players look up to them, and they just use that to get away with anything they want."

Meanwhile, Shahzeb Khan, another ex-iBUYPOWER player, has confessed that he took part in match fixing during the inafmous match in August.

"The day of this match I had placed a bet on iBUYPOWER. I brought up the bet while talking to [pro-player team manager] Casey Foster; he then voice-called me on Steam Friends and told me to change my bet. He made it very clear the match was going to be thrown. I didn't want to get involved with any of it but I changed my bet, as I thought would be logical at the time while also sharing this information with a friend whom I assumed to have bet the same."

The full confession, along with more evidence that connects iBUYPOWER to the match-fixing scandal where more than $10,000 of earnings were made, can be found on The Daily Dot.