Shortly after the confirmation of Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo’s move to Team Liquid, leaving MIBR after two years, a disupte took place publicly between the Brazilian pro and Immortals COO, Tomi ‘lurppis’ Kovanen.
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The spat came about after Team Liquid apologized to MIBR for failing to notify them of the announcement about FalleN’s move.
The team wrote on Twitter, “In the excitement of the day we forgot to give @MIBR warning before announcing Fallen. We strive to be good partners off the server and should have checked ourselves.”
Lurppis, a former player, caster, and analyst, now the COO at Immortals, MIBR’s parent company, responded, saying it was “common courtesy” for organizations to agree on a release time for announcements.
The conversation took a turn when a fan raised an issue around MIBR’s signing of the old SK Gaming lineup, as luppis replied: “we continue pursuing options against SK because our German lawyers have advised us that SK illegally withheld ~$250k from the players, which we paid each at different times. However, we also paid them ~$100k each in extra salary above contract, but that never comes up”
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FalleN took issue with this statement, responding “That’s not true as you never paid me and made sure I sign out without receiving it,” FalleN said. “Signing an NDA with you doesn’t mean I will see you lying on social media and be quiet.”
That’s not true as you never paid me and made sure I sign out without receiving it. Signing an NDA with you doesn’t mean I will see you lying on social media and be quiet.
— Gabriel Toledo (@FalleNCS) January 10, 2021
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Kovanen responded to FalleN’s accusation, explaining that it was worked out as “part of the buyout” and reiterating that Immortals “paid you ~$100k extra out of the kindness of our hearts in good faith, outside of what we had contractually agreed to.”
https://twitter.com/tomi/status/1348114318638817281
Clarifying his comment, lurppis continued: “Kindness of heart was a figure of speech, but we paid them the full salary even though they weren’t legally entitled to it because we wanted to show good faith and thought it would help long-term.”
https://twitter.com/tomi/status/1348126415816822784
FalleN has not publicly responded to the Immortals COO since, so a resolution to this dispute does not appear to be forthcoming.
For now, FalleN is joining up with his new North American teammates under the Team Liquid banner. The squad’s first competitive action together will be at the BLAST Premier Global Final on January 19.