Acend denies allegations that cNed participated in money laundering scandal

Nov 3, 2021

Acend Esports released a statement on Wednesday denying the claims that their player cNed knowingly participated in an alleged Turkish Twitch money-laundering scandal. In their statement, the company called reports implicating cNed in the scandal "misinformation" and "speculation".

"There is lots of misinformation and speculation regarding cNed's supposed involvement in the Turkish bits scam," the org said in their statement. "To clarify; cNed received one donation from an anonymous donator, who has since been identified as the same account involved in the scam, as did many Turkish streamers at the time. It was not known by cNed at the time, and we still do not know, if these bits were connected in any way to money laundering or stolen funds."

Acend said that they are seeking further information from Twitch or Turkish authorities regarding the whole money laundering scandal. They firmly stood by cNed, claiming he had no contact with the criminals involved in the scheme and that any bits sent to him were sent without his "knowledge or consent."

They did clarify that cNed did not report the anonymous donation to Twitch at the time and ignored it instead, which he has since admitted was a mistake. As of publishing their statement, cNed has not been contacted by Twitch, Riot, or Turkish law enforcement, but Acend said that it would be cooperative if they are contacted.

"We don't condone any allegations or insults towards our players, only aimed at creating drama," Acend concluded, in an apparent swipe at Upcomer's article claiming cNed's involvement. "We recommend that people use a variety of sources for their information, as well as make sure to fact check any articles you read before making assumptions."

cNed is one of many Turkish streamers who have come under fire this past week after the Twitch leak revealed some suspicious payouts for many streamers. Riot Games confirmed they are aware of the issue but have not taken action against any players yet, as of writing this article.