On the 20th (KST), Riot released their rulings against former Director of Griffin, Cho Gyu-nam and Griffin. Riot ruled that Cho will be indefinitely banned from Riot affiliated esports events, and fined Griffin for 100,000,000 KRW (~$85,000 USD), for their involvement.

In their ruling against Cho, they’ve stated that although it’s up to the justice system to properly judge whether or not he actually made threats, the LCK operation committee had a duty to maintain the league healthy and fair, so they’ve decided to make this competitive ruling against Cho.

Riot stated that in the case of a change in the statue of an underage player, especially when it has legal implications, Cho had a duty to notify the legal guardian, earn their consensus, and act upon them. In the case with Kanavi, if Cho had gotten consensus from Kanavi’s parents, he had to notify them when Kanavi was faced with potential player tampering. Furthermore, regarding Kanavi’s transfer to another team, not only did Cho had to notify Kanavi’s parents of the situation, he also had to tell them the terms and conditions, and earn their consensus. However, not only did Cho fail to do any of the following above, he went ahead with the transfer process directly with the underage player, negatively influence him in a way in making certain choices, and severely damaged LCK’s reputation.

Furthermore, the Operation Committee stated that Cho was heavily involved in adding a clause in Kanavi’s contract with Griffin, which excluded the time on loan as part of the contracted period. If the end date of the contract has changed from this clause, Cho had a duty to notify the Operation Committee, but failed to do so. This action heavily affects a player’s rights, as it can indefinitely lock a player with a team for a very long time. The Operation Committee deems Cho’s actions to be premeditated, and thus decided to issue such a competitive ruling against the former Director of Griffin, Cho Gyu-nam.

Meanwhile, the LCK Operation Committee also issued a fine of 100,000,000 KRW (~$85,000 USD), for the team’s personnel being either directly involved or ignoring Cho and cvMax’s actions. In addition, their management and operations will be regularly monitored by the committee, and if such problems rises again, Griffin will potentially lose their spot in the LCK.