Field Level Media
18 May 2021, 04:25 GMT+10
Riot suspended Jay "Sinatraa" Won from Valorant competitive play for six months Monday, saying he did not cooperate with an investigation into a sexual assault allegation.
Sinatraa, who plays for Sentinels, was accused of abuse by an ex-partner in March. Riot suspended him when the accusation emerged and launched an investigation. The past two months will count toward his six-month suspension, and he will be eligible to return to competition in September.
"While the investigation did not come to a definitive conclusion on the underlying allegations, the Competitive Operations team had serious concerns with Sinatraa's conduct during the course of the investigation," a statement from Riot said. "It was determined that on at least two occasions Sinatraa misrepresented certain facts, made false statements, and did not cooperate with the investigation in a way expected of a professional VALORANT esports player."
Riot went on to say that Sinatraa did not fulfill a "public commitment on social media" to provide video and audio clips he had promised to turn over as part of the investigation.
Sinatraa responded Monday in a statement, saying he has "spent the last 2 months reflecting on how I can be better as a person." He also attempted to clarify why Riot claimed he was uncooperative in the investigation.
"I want to preface this by saying I do not have the video/audio that she used in her statement," Sinatraa wrote. "After our relationship ended she had asked me to delete the video and I honored that. ... I had no clue what to do so I seeked (sic) legal help immediately. As we were drafting up an update with the legal PR team we had added that I would provide the video because we genuinely thought that the video would have to be shared in full since it's a key part in the investigation. However that did not happen and I should not have promised something I could not personally deliver."
Sinatraa, 21, starred in the Overwatch League before joining Sentinels to compete in Valorant. He led the San Francisco Shock to the 2019 Overwatch League title, winning league MVP honors, and helped the U.S. win the 2019 Overwatch World Cup where he was named the tournament's most valuable player.
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