ESIC suspends Joel due to multiple breaches of the ESIC Anti-Corruption Code
The former GODSENT player denies any wrongdoing.
Joel “Joel” Holmlund has been the center of an ESIC investigation in the past month. Today ESIC announced the suspension of the 18-year-old Swede.
On ESIC's website the commision explains the case like this.
It is alleged that Mr. Joel Holmlund, while being a professional player for the team Godsent, engaged in corrupt behavior contravening the ESIC Anti-Corruption Code during his participation in the BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic event, involving Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), for the following infringements:
Although the tournament related to item 1 was not an ESIC member event tournament, the ESIC Codes allow ESIC to issue a Rejection Order pursuant to item 2.A.2 of the Anti-Corruption Code. This sanction will be issued to all ESIC members and may be adopted by other third parties at their discretion.
The young Swede was benched from GODSENT at the end of March this year. A move that looked peculiar from the outside due to his impressive 1.11 rating during 2023. A couple of days ago fellow Swede Robin "robiin" Sjögren accused Joel of matchfixing in a post on Twitter, where he highlighted the absurdity of losing a spot at the BLAST Showdown to a player, who where being investigated for matchfixing. Joel “Joel” Holmlund qualified for BLAST Showdown with the orgless team Victory Zigzag.
Also on Twitter, Joel “Joel” Holmlund made a statement, where he denied all allegations against him calling the statement from ESIC "extremely injustice".
Suspended until 6th of October
ESIC has given Joel until the 6th of October to present any evidence that can put the case into new light.
- Considering the gravity of the allegations, Mr. Holmlund’s current active participation in an ESIC-affiliated event, and being satisfied with the compelling evidence presented in its further investigation, ESIC has elected to suspend Mr. Holmlund via a Rejection Order Notice. While the suspension stands, ESIC remains open to reevaluation should Mr. Holmlund present new evidence by 6 October 2023. At the time of publication, as the Rejection Order Notice has not been finalised, ESIC will reserve the disclosure of the duration of the ban on participation in ESIC member events to be imposed. ESIC will make a further statement on or after 6 October 2023 to confirm the final outcome of the investigation.
