Team Paria were asked to fix CSGO matches, Richard Lewis report finds

Team Paria, a Dutch esports organisation known in the UK League of Legends scene, were asked to fix matches in CSGO earlier this month.
Team Paria owner Stefan “ioswitch” Heesters was contacted by a match-fixer ahead of the org’s participation in the King of Nordic online CSGO cup.
Paria were due to be representing Iceland in a match against Finland, when he was approached by Karim “tropica” El Amrani, an admin of Facebook group CSGO EU Pracc which has many semi-pro players in it.
Heesters was appalled by the offer, and contacted Esports News UK about the development. We put him in touch with CSGO expose expert Richard Lewis, someone who could get to the root of the matter and publicize the match fixing within the CSGO community.
Lewis published this story yesterday, after interviewing El Amrani, who openly admitted to match fixing.

Report: New evidence points to match fixing in semi-professional Counter-Strike. https://t.co/PEr1aWoCYG

— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) March 20, 2017

El Amrani claimed he has earned $20,000 in two months from match fixing CSGO games as part of a betting ring, and said that ‘most ESEA Premier and King of Nordic matches were fixed anyway’.
 

“I assume you guys aren’t making that much money out of Paria? If you and your team wants to make a bit of extra money, you can throw that match against Finland.”

 
El Amrani originally sent the following message to Heesters from Team Paria: “I assume you guys aren’t making that much money out of Paria? As you are the manager.
“The prize pool for KoN is $250 or $500 I believe and I’m 90% sure your team won’t make it to the final or win the whole thing anyways. Your team might win against Finland because that lineup isn’t really good, so if you and your team wants to make a bit of extra money, you can throw that match against Finland.”
Heesters later tweeted, after the publication, saying: “We’re motivated by the love of the game, not by greed. #SayNoToMatchFixing
“Our integrity isn’t for sale! #AllWeDoIsEsports”
El Amrani also told Richard Lewis that four matches were fixed, and that he had placed bets on several matches using Nordic Bet. The matches were:

• iGame vs Outlaws at Assembly
• KoN Finland vs KoN Sweden
• Oulaws vs Epsilon in the Hellcase Cup Closed Qualifier
• Fragsters vs Rush3d at the Dolphin CS Shoot Em Up 2

Outlaw have since denied the allegations.
You can see full details and all the chat logs on Richard Lewis’ website.

Thanks @RLewisReports for the publication! #SayNoToMatchfixing https://t.co/oKyIgeQI17

— Stefan ‘ioswitch’ H. (@ioswitch) March 20, 2017

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.