The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has officially opened an investigation into allegations made by former CS:GO coach Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen that members of the Heroic roster were complicit in his usage of the spectator bug.
The formal investigation was officially opened today, two days after HUNDEN sent the ESIC information that he alleges shows evidence that some of the Heroic players were in on his use of the bug. This alleged evidence, according to an interview between HUNDEN and TV2.dk, includes acknowledgment from former player Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen that “everyone” on the roster knew about the bug usage. This evidence also allegedly includes logs showing René “TeSeS” Madsen helping HUNDEN get into position to use his bugged camera during a match in 2020.
In September 2020, HUNDEN received a one-year ban from the ESIC for his exploitive use of the spectator bug, which was eventually reduced to eight months for his participation in that investigation. In that first investigation, HUNDEN said he operated alone and that the Heroic players weren’t complicit. The ESIC has acknowledged that the new allegations contrast with his original statement, but it’s investigating nonetheless.
This latest development began earlier this summer when HUNDEN announced that he was leaving Heroic upon the expiration of his contract, while denying allegations that he shared Heroic’s strategies with teams competing at ESL One Cologne. Heroic responded the next day with a statement saying he had shared strats and thus had breached his contract, and passed that information along to the ESIC. Roughly a month later, the ESIC handed HUNDEN a two-year ban for sharing Heroic strategy materials with competitors.
The ESIC said any new updates on the investigation into the Heroic players will be made public as they become available.
