TL;DR
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- The League believes that there was a pattern and practice of disparaging and bullying behavior exhibited by Andy Dinh towards TSM players and staff members;
- TSM is fined seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000), Dinh must complete sensitivity training and executive training and Dinh is on probation for the next two years across the Riot ecosystem; and
- An independent monitor is being appointed to operate a tip-line and follow-through with regular check-ins with TSM League of Legends players.
CONTEXT
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In November 2021, a former TSM player made a series of public allegations against Andy Dinh (“Dinh”), the majority owner of TSM. These allegations included accusations of bullying and berating players and staff on TSM, stating that Dinh’s verbal assaults had caused players and staff public humiliation, mental breakdowns and more. In response to these public allegations, additional individuals who are or were associated with TSM came forward with similar allegations through the NA LCS Players Association. As a result of these allegations, the North America League of Legends Championship Series, LLC (the “LCS”) retained outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation and report their findings. This competitive ruling reflects those findings.
In addition, on May 27, 2022, TSM announced that it had completed an independent investigation of Dinh led by TSM’s independent director, without involvement from Dinh. The final report from that investigation found that “ there was no unlawful conduct by Mr. Dinh” but that Dinh “provided feedback to employees, including players, in an aggressive and harsh tone.” The report recommended corrective actions, including:
- Mandatory executive coaching for Dinh and voluntary executive coaching for other executives;
- Leadership training and culture building training; and
- An anonymous reporting hotline so that employees can lodge complaints about any executive outside of the normal chain of command and without fear of retaliation.
THE SCOPE OF THE LCS INVESTIGATION
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The Team Participation Agreement (the “TPA”), which is the contract between each team and the LCS, in conjunction with the Official Rules of the LCS (the “Rules”), set forth the permitted scope of any investigation conducted by the LCS. In this instance, the scope of our investigation was:
- How serious and pervasive were the actions underlying the reports of Dinh’s treatment of, and behaviors towards, TSM players and staff?
- Did Dinh make disparaging or harassing comments related to the race, national origin, sexual orientation or any other protected class of any individual or group, or take actions or make comments that would create an inference that Dinh discriminated against, sexually harassed or unlawfully harassed anyone connected with TSM?
- Were there credible reports of other actions by Dinh, including physical violence, that would give rise to a violation of the TPA or Rules?
While we saw other allegations raised publicly during the course of the investigation, including the characterization of contractors and employees under relevant state or federal law, those questions are ultimately outside the scope of our investigation until and unless there is a ruling by a court or arbitrator, or a public settlement involving an admission of wrongdoing, which could trigger additional investigative actions and/or penalties under the Rules and TPA. Ultimately, we strive to walk the fine line between protecting our sport and enforcing our rules on the one hand and adjudicating disputes or replacing courts, arbitrators or in some cases, the police on the other hand. In addition, our review of incidents that occur in a team’s ancillary businesses is generally limited to instances of illegal action or moral turpitude.
THE INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS
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The investigators conducted interviews of fourteen individuals, including Dinh. This included all of the complainants provided by the Players’ Association, as well as any other parties identified during the course of those interviews. In addition, the investigators contacted a number of former TSM players and employees who either did not respond or declined to cooperate with the investigation. The investigators also reviewed certain emails and other electronic communications as well as public statements and videos.
Our investigators were aware of the investigation being carried out by TSM’s independent investigator and spoke with this individual on several occasions. In addition, a small number of interviews with current TSM employees were conducted jointly for the sake of efficiency, although those individuals were provided with an additional opportunity to speak without TSM’s investigator present to ensure they could speak in an open and candid way. We did not provide TSM with visibility on our investigation, did not provide a list of individuals we were speaking to (outside of current TSM employees), did not share our notes or final conclusions with TSM, and did not collaborate with TSM on their investigative report or announcement, or on this competitive ruling (outside of the usual advanced notice of the ruling we customarily give when issuing rulings). The existence of, and report from, TSM’s investigation did not influence the findings of our investigation.
We have notified TSM, Dinh, and the NA LCS Players’ Association about the substance of this competitive ruling.
FINDINGS
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Based upon the conclusions we drew from the reporting of our independent investigators, we believe that there was a pattern and practice of disparaging and bullying behavior exhibited by Dinh. This included verbally abusing pro players and TSM staff members and communicating in a demeaning and belittling manner. Nearly all of the witnesses agreed that Dinh’s outbursts and abuse were generally limited to a player or staff member’s perceived performance. None of the witnesses recall any situation in which Dinh’s abusive behavior focused on a protected class (race, gender, age, sexual orientation, sexual identity, etc) and there were no reports of actual or threatened physical abuse towards any TSM player or staff member.
Pursuant to our scope of investigation, the above findings leave us to determine the severity of Dinh’s behavior and the appropriate remedy in this situation.
RELEVANT BACKGROUND
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In February, 2021, TSM was fined $5,000 by the LCS for conduct unbecoming of an LCS Team Member for Dinh’s February 19 [tweet directed][1] at Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme (“Laflamme”), the then support for Cloud9. On February 25, 2021, Dinh published a [subsequent tweet][2] explaining that he had apologized to Laflamme and noting “I’ll be more thoughtful moving forward and learn from this.” We have considered this prior incident in the context of this ruling.
RELEVANT RULES
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**14.3.1 Profanity and Hate Speech**. A Team Member may not use language that is obscene, foul, vulgar, insulting, threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory or otherwise offensive or objectionable; or promote or incite hatred or discriminatory conduct.
**14.3.4 Harassment. Harassment is forbidden.** Harassment is defined as systematic, hostile and repeated acts taking place over a considerable period of time, or a singular egregious instance, which is/are intended to isolate or ostracize a person and/or affect the dignity of the person.
RULING
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The Rules are applicable to Dinh as a team owner which classifies Dinh as a “Team Member.” Dinh has violated rules 14.3.1 and 14.3.4 of the LCS ruleset. In addition, under the terms of the Team Participation Agreement between the LCS and TSM, the team agreed to both “manage and operate the Team in a professional manner, in accordance with the highest standards in the esports industry” and to ensure that Team Members (including Dinh) “provide their services in a professional manner and in accordance with the standards and rules of conduct specified in the Rules.”
For the purposes of the LCS Penalty Index, the LCS has no basis upon which to determine how many instances of abusive and harassing conduct took place. As such, our outcome will draw from, but deviate from, the Penalty Index.
TSM is fined seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000), which represents 3x the maximum fine for conduct unbecoming of an LCS Team Member to reflect the lengthy multi-year pattern we believe existed. This fine will be donated by the LCS to an appropriate charity focused on anti-bullying and/or mental health selected in conjunction with the Players’ Association. In addition, TSM is required to provide evidence within sixty (60) days that Dinh has completed: (i) sensitivity training; and (ii) executive training. The training must be provided by a third-party that is unaffiliated with TSM. To ensure that the training provider is qualified, TSM must pre-submit the provider to the League for approval, including evidence of qualifications such as educational certificates, training and experience. Through the imposition of these training sessions, we expect that Dinh will learn more constructive ways to provide feedback to his employees and players.
Finally, Dinh is being placed on probation for the next two years. TSM and Dinh have committed themselves to a culture shift within their organization and we want to provide space for that positive shift to occur. However, we also want to ensure that should that shift not occur, the consequences within the Riot ecosystem are clear. Any finding by the LCS, or any other Riot governing body, that Dinh has violated our rules during this probation period will bring severely enhanced penalties.
In order to ensure compliance with our rules, during Dinh’s probation, an independent monitor appointed by Riot will operate a “tip line” through which TSM employees can anonymously report instances of abusive conduct by Dinh. In addition, through the Players’ Association, the monitor will check in with current TSM League of Legends players and report any potential rule violations to the League for follow-up. TSM will be required to provide notice, in a form provided by the League, to all existing TSM players and staff, and any new hires during the probation period, explaining the existence and purpose of the tip line.
[1]: https://twitter.com/TSMReginald/status/1362944918713294849
[2]: https://twitter.com/TSMReginald/status/1365062339016355840
