Riot Games fines TSM CEO Reginald and puts him on 2-year probation

Riot Games finished an investigation on TSM owner and CEO Andy “Reginald” Dinh regarding his bullying and berating of players and staff. The company’s sentence ended up in a $75,000 fine and a two-year probation period. 

TSM is one of the biggest esports organizations fielding rosters in Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Rainbow Six, and mobile titles, as well as a bunch of content creators who represent the prominent club. However, TSM’s Chief Executive Officer Andy Dinh has been trapped in a major scandal in the industry for months now.

Reginald facing accusations of bullying and verbal abuse 

The controversy around the TSM owner became in recent months one of the most-discussed stories in the esports industry. In November 2021, League of Legends player Peng “Doublelift” Yilang, who was a TSM ADC at that time, accused Reginald of bullying the team’s players and staff members. Doublelift went on stream and talked about his negative experience in TSM, mostly with Reginald. He accused the CEO of bullying and unprofessional behaviour and how it impacted the whole team morale, saying that he was constantly “making the team depressed”. 

Moreover, Doublelift also revealed that apart from him, Reginald also behaved poorly with players Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen, Alfonso “Mithy” Rodriguez, Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen and other TSM staff members. Furthermore, Doublelift claimed that Reginald pressured him into retirement against his will and that the CEO “makes people feel worthless.” He went as far as revealing a letter from the TSM law firm, according to which he breached his employment agreement with TSM and was supposed to pay compensation. 

Multiple other TSM employees then followed suit and shared their experiences with Washington Post. Reginald denied all the allegations but Riot Games decided to investigate the case itself as it involves directly the esports leagues of the developer. 

Reginald had also previously faced accusations of similar conduct in the media environment. In February 2021 he called out Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme from Cloud9 on Twitter and humiliated the player in public. Eventually, because of his attitude, Reginald was fined $5,000 by LCS, as such behaviour violates the rules of Riot’s North American League of Legends league. 

The result of the investigation 

Following the accusations, TSM revealed the results of its independent internal investigation back in May. The investigator hired by the organization came to the conclusion that “no evidence of unlawful behaviour” was discovered.

Meanwhile, the 8-month-long investigation by Riot Games found evidence of Reginald’s inappropriate behaviour. According to Riot’s recent report, investigators conducted interviews with fourteen people including Reginald, along with other examinations. As a result, the inspectors found Reginald guilty of bullying behaviour, which was approved by almost all witnesses. 

As for penalties, Reginald has been fined $75,000 and he must finish training on sensitivity and execution. Moreover, he has been put on a two-year probation in the Riot Games esports ecosystem. 

The developers also will maintain a tip line through which TSM staff can anonymously report inappropriate conduct if it happens again. The Players’ Association will also join the monitoring and will check TSM for any potential violation cases. At the moment of writing this piece, TSM hasn’t released an official statement regarding Riot’s investigation. 

Header credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Ketchum.