A Wild Rift coach for the esports organization FENNEL admitted to attempted match fixing and has had his contract terminated after an internal investigation.
Wild Rift player turned analyst and coach James ‘Hamezz’ Santos revealed on June 12 in a Facebook post that he had attempted to fix one of his team’s matches to earn money by betting on the outcome. The Filipino analyst outlined how he and a friend came up with the idea to throw FENNEL’s last regular season Wild Rift League Asia match against Nigma Galaxy.
Hamezz explained that if the team lost, they would not get any prize money as they would place below sixth place. So, to ensure the squad would get a comparable amount of money with a loss, about $100,000 per player, he attempted to talk some of FENNEL’s players into a match fixing plot.
The analyst also provided a Google Drive link to screenshots and videos of conversations with the players attempting to get them to throw their next match. Hamezz’s Facebook page has gone private since this post, but a screenshot of the admission of guilt has been saved by Wild Rift coach John ‘Glaceox’ Lim on Twitter.
Match fixing scandal hits Wild Rift esports
Hours later, FENNEL released its own statement about Hamezz. The esports organization revealed what it found through its own investigation into the post and announced the termination of Hamezz from the team.
FENNEL said Hamezz instructed Ken ‘RyuKen’ Flores, Robert ‘Trebor’ Mansilungan, Aden ‘Aker’ Baranda and Miguel ‘Arisen’ Pison to “deliberately lose a match in WRL Asia 2023” on June 9. Hamezz wagered online that FENNEL would lose 2-0 to Nigma, FENNEL claims.
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🚨 Huge Wild Rift Drama happening in the WRLA now.Hamez, one of Fennel's coaching staff, more well known as the captain of Team Secret during their run at Horizon Cup, exposed himself and teammates conspiring to match fix their last game vs Nigma Galaxy in the WRLA Regular… pic.twitter.com/Jd8DffaFgf
— Glaceox (@Glaceox) June 12, 2023
FENNEL said Trebor was against the idea from the beginning and that the other players initially considered complying with the plot but ultimately did not follow through. FENNEL defeated Nigma 2-1 in the final regular season match on June 11 and finished in sixth place.
Due to losing money on the failed attempt to fix the match, Hamezz threatened to expose Ryuken, Aker and Arisen for initially agreeing to the plan on social media. He also threatened to report them to Riot Games, according to FENNEL.
Because of the threats, one of the players reported the attempted match fixing plot to their team manager. FENNEL’s statement says that Hamezz confessed to the aforementioned timeline and facts presented by the organization.
Riot Games has yet to comment on the matter.