The problems surrounding Team Griffin from the Korean League of Legends are not over yet. Now, one of the players is suing former coach cvMax, who allegedly assaulted him.
What is the lawsuit about? Player Choi ‘Sword’ Sung-won has filed a lawsuit against his former coach Kim ‘cvMax’ Dae-ho according to the Korean website Naver.
Sword cites physical and verbal attacks against him as the reason. The coach is accused of having:
- grabbed and shaken him by the collar.
- pinched him, causing a scratch.
- called him motherless, which is one of the worst insults in South Korea.
- sought revenge if a loss occurred. He is also said to have threatened Sword’s family in this regard.
According to Sword, these actions left such a severe impression that he and his family are suffering from the psychological consequences.
What does Riot Games say about this? So far, the developers of LoL have not commented on the lawsuit. They originally banned cvMax for life from all activities related to League of Legends.
After a petition from fans, this ban was temporarily lifted. The reason is that in Korea, the government must intervene if at least 200,000 signatures are collected. This was the case for cvMax.
The South Korean government is now looking into whether and how coach cvMax will be punished. Sword’s lawsuit is also proceeding independently of this process.
A series of grievances at Team Griffin
What happened at Griffin? Coach cvMax was dismissed shortly before the Worlds and subsequently highlighted some grievances at Team Griffin.
Subsequently, the CEO of Still 8, the parent company of Team Griffin, apologized to the coach and fired manager Cho Gyu-nam. He allegedly negotiated with minors without parental consent and created exploitative contracts.
However, cvMax also seems to have acted improperly at times, as the filed lawsuit aims to prove.
Riot imposes harsh penalties against Griffin: In the wake of the scandal, Riot Games Korea has already imposed some harsh penalties.
Not only had the entire LoL team been released, but also the management of Still 8 is to resign. Nevertheless, the case continues to have widespread repercussions and affects other teams as well.
Riot Games Korea will review the player contracts of all teams before the start of the LCK. Furthermore, standardized contracts are to be published in 2020, which are to be used for the LCK in the future.
Whether such regulations will also be made for other regions is currently unknown.
