The Swedish CS:GO professional Robin “Flusha” Rönnquist got into a lot of trouble with the law. Because he did not declare over 100,000 dollars in prize money, he was even threatened with prison.
Who is it about? Flusha is a top pro gamer from the Counter-Strike scene. He achieved numerous victories for his eSports team Fnatic. Flusha was particularly powerful in 2015. He won at ESL One Katowice and ESL One Cologne. He brought his team nearly one million US dollars in prize money through his successes, of which he was entitled to a share. And that’s where the problems began for the 27-year-old CS:GO professional.
Counter-Strike professional convicted of tax evasion
What happened? According to Dexerto, Flusha received around 1.04 million Swedish Krona in 2015, which is about 120,000 US dollars, as his share of the prize money. However, the young professional forgot that in Sweden, prize money counts as income and is therefore subject to income tax. This tax is 57 percent on income over 675,700 Krona.
However, Flusha did not declare the money, and eventually, the matter came to light. Therefore, charges of tax evasion were filed. Flusha stated that he acted out of ignorance and without malicious intent. It was a failure on his part, and he did not intend to evade taxes.
How did the case turn out? Flusha was convicted of tax evasion and could have faced four months in prison at worst. However, the verdict was more lenient in the end. Flusha must:
- repay the owed tax amount plus a fine of approximately 23,300 dollars
- perform 120 hours of community service
- donate about 100 dollars to a fund for victims of crime
Flusha claims he acted without malicious intent, but these professionals do not:
Flusha is not the only eSports professional who wins in the game but loses against the tax office. The winner of the 2019 Fortnite World Cup was also severely taxed by the tax office of New York City because he won large amounts of prize money in that city. The winner was thus stripped of more than half of his 3 million dollars in prize money.
