Sean Gares drops exposé on tier 2 VALORANT matchfixing scandal

Over the past month, the VALORANT community has been buzzing with rumors of cheating and match-fixing within the tier-two competitive scene. Popular content creator and Shopify Rebellion Black general manager Sean "seangares" Gares released a detailed video breaking down his accusations against several players and community members.

Gares' findings

In the video, Gares outlines his findings, beginning with an introduction to Bray, a figure in the VALORANT scene who allegedly contacted multiple players to fix matches in order to profit from high-stakes bets on Challengers games. According to Gares, these wagers ranged from $10,000, six-figure payouts, to a million dollars. He claims to have evidence showing Bray communicating with four different players in the league.

Gares then shares conversations between Bray and players Teague "TEAGUE" Morgan and practo, who were allegedly approached with offers to intentionally lose games in return for large payouts. The exchanges reportedly began in Twitter DMs, with Bray later asking to move the conversation to Discord. There, he would showcase betting slips reflecting massive winnings as a way to entice players to agree.

The accused

Both TEAGUE and practo declined the proposal. However, Bray allegedly went on to name Prosperity Esports and Burger Boyz as teams with players who had accepted similar offers and thrown matches. Gares also reviewed footage from several games involving Blue otter's Bob "Bob" Tran and Adam "Fair" Elharoun, highlighting what he believes to be suspicious gameplay indicative of match-fixing.

According to Gares, their in-game decisions and overall execution did not align with the expected standards of tier-two competition—especially when contrasted with their past performances. He named teams like SaD Esports and Ambrosia of potentially collaborating with Bray to influence match outcomes. Gares emphasized that full-team involvement isn't necessary; only a few players need to be complicit for a fix to occur.

He concluded by acknowledging the broader struggles of the tier-two scene, noting that a lack of organizational support and a lack of true path to tier one has pushed some players toward unethical decisions in pursuit of fast, significant payouts. This was also spoken about by former pro player and superstar Tyson "TenZ" Ngo, who says match-fixing and cheating for money is not surprising since financial aid to help fund these teams is basically non-existent.

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