LoL: Boss of e-sports team is convicted by Riot – gets a €75,000 fine and has to be good for 2 years

Andy “Reginald” Dinh is a former League of Legends professional player and the founder and boss of Team SoloMid. However, an insider report from the Washington Post painted a bleak picture of him. He is supposed to insult employees and throw out people who ask nasty questions. Now he has been officially condemned by the developer Riot Games.

This is the situation:

Penalty, leadership training, and 2-year probation

What does the report say? Riot Games shared via their website that they have engaged an independent investigator to verify Doublelift’s allegations. This investigator concluded that Andy “Reginald” Dinh engaged in the practice of demeaning and bullying behavior.

However, this behavior is said to have been limited to the performance of the players or employees and not related to gender, nationality or sexual orientation. The report states:

This included swearing at professional players and TSM staff and making comments in demeaning and derogatory terms. Almost all witnesses agreed that Dinh’s outbursts and abuse were generally limited to the perceived performance of a player or staff member.

None of the witnesses can recall a situation in which Dinh’s abusive behavior was related to a protected group (race, gender, age, sexual orientation, sexual identity, etc.) and there were no reports of actual or threatened physical violence towards one TSM players or staff.

What is the verdict?

• TSM has to pay a fine of 75,000 euros. That’s three times the amount of a single offense because of Reginald’s repeated insults over the years. The money will be donated by Riot to an anti-bullying or mental health organization.
• Andy “Reginald” Dinh must undergo awareness training and leadership training – within the next 60 days.
• Reginald will be on probation for the next two years in the Riot ecosystem. If there is even one misconduct, further sanctions should follow.

TSM itself came to a similar conclusion in its own study. The team committed to sending all executives to coaching sessions. In addition, a hotline is to be set up through which employees can complain anonymously. This is now installed by Riot Games itself.

What are Reginald and TSM saying? They have not yet publicly commented on the punishment. However, Riot Games came to a similar conclusion as TSM itself, so they will probably accept the penalty.

It is unclear whether the former professional Doublelift is satisfied with the result. He was already disappointed by the conclusions TSM drew from its own investigation:

LoL: TSM boss is allowed to stay, but has to sit in detention – his intimate enemy spits poison and bile