Former TSM League coach Peter Zhang permanently banned from Riot Games esports

Riot Games has issued a permanent ban to Zhang ‘Peter Zhang’ Yi in a ruling given out on August 8 for violating LCS rules in regards to his time on TSM for diverting player salaries, soliciting loans from TSM players and staff along with other violations.

The former TSM coach is now banned from associating with any team or organization in a Riot-sanctioned competition.

Peter Zhang was fired from TSM on March 19 for financial irregularities as first reported by Dexerto. Those irregularities included diverting about $250,000 in player salary and misleading another player with the sale of a car in which the money earned would be given to the competitor.

The League of Legends coach joined TSM in 2018 and rose through the ranks to Head of Player Development.

After his firing, TSM conducted its own investigation via an independent law firm into its former employee and found that he had diverted player salaries and acted as an agent for players that he recommended to TSM from China.

Peter Zhang’s list of ethical failures

In total, the former TSM employee diverted about $250,000 in salary from two TSM players to himself and other parties, he agreed to sell a car on behalf of former TSM support Hu ‘SwordArt’ Shuo-Chieh and kept over half of the money from the sale (paying $35,000 to the player once he was threatened).

He also attempted to borrow money from eight TSM players and staff members, including those he personally coached. Two players did end up sending money to their former coach when asked.

In TSM’s own report they also found that the players Peter Zhang recruited for the League of Legends team were not necessarily brought in for their skill, but for his own personal interest due to acting as their agent.

Peter Zhang released a Twitlonger purporting to tell his side of the story on March 24, in which he said he never acted as a player agent.