Pro Counter-Strike team quit org after owner allegedly admits to dating 17-year-old
The 25-year old owner of ImPerium Vancuverii has since been removed as CEO of the organisation.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ESEA Advanced roster of ImPerium Vancuverii turned its back on the organisation over a controversy involving its CEO, who goes by the moniker Shadow.
The 25-year-old Shadow, also reportedly the owner of the Canadian organisation, has allegedly been dating a 17-year-old within the organisation.
ImPerium shared a statement regarding the situation on Twitter on the same day, saying that they were “currently investigating reports of allegations of unethical behaviour”.
Soon after, on Thursday morning (27 April), the organisation announced their decision to remove Shadow as the CEO of the organisation.
— ImPerium Vancuverii (@ImP_GG) April 26, 2023
ImPerium also said that he would be replaced by the VP of Business Development, who goes by the moniker "Spencer", as interim CEO. ImPerium did not disclose if Shadow was still within the organisation in some capacity.
Yahoo Southeast Asia has reached out to ImPerium Vancuverii for further clarification on Shadow's removal. However, the organisation has not responded at the time of publication.
CS:GO team calls it quits with ImPerium
As a result of these claims, the whole ImPerium Advanced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team severed connections with the organisation and are currently playing under the "Looking for Org" banner.
Nicholas "Truepain" Effland, a member of the roster, confirmed the team's departure from ImPerium on the same day.
With the recent news of our org owner being creepy asf, we are leaving imperium and looking for a new one! Hit me up if any orgs need a CSGO team. Current record 3-1 in ADV
— Truepain (@truepain15) April 24, 2023
Another member, Alex "insightz" Lange, also tweeted, saying that they, as a team, would "figure this out". He also said confirmed that they were looking for a new organisation to join.
He also added in response to ImPerium's initial tweet about the investigation that "banning and blocking players isn't the solution", and that the organisation should address the allegations and find a solution.
What were the allegations against Shadow?
Screenshots of a Discord conversation were posted on Twitter on Wednesday (26 April) by user EskiValorant, where Shadow allegedly addressed his relationship with the 17-year-old.
This led to members of the esports community coming forward with allegations of "crossing boundaries" and messages from Shadow after EskiValorant's post.
Rosie and Aena, two members of the organisation’s VALORANT Game Changers team, also announced that they were quitting.
Rosie shared messages allegedly from Shadow which she claimed were "manipulative", while Aena alleged that Shadow has a “pattern of crossing boundaries he shouldn’t have crossed as the owner of an org” and that she “felt obligated to respond as he was the CEO and felt that my position as a player would be compromised if [she] didn’t”.
Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.
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