Riot Games slaps bans on Amihan Esports due to 'inaccurate documentation'

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine squad Amihan Esports has been slapped with sanctions by Riot Games Southeast Asia Esports following breach of rules involving player Karl Ken "AMI Karlll" Bautista during the SEA Icon Series Philippines summer season and the Summer Super Cup.

In a decision released Saturday, Bautista, former team manager Christian Villegas, and Amihan Esports owner Francis Mariano were all given varying degrees of suspension after finding the parties guilty of inaccurate documentation.

The investigation, first raised to Riot's attention during the SEA Icon Series Philippines, found that Bautista's documents to compete in the tournaments were forged and misrepresented his age at the time of registration for the national and regional tiffs.

Rule 2.3 (Age) of the Wild Rift SEA Icon Series Philippines Competition Policy states that "No player shall be considered eligible to participate in any Icon Series-affiliated match before their 17th birthday, defined as having lived 17 full years."

Bautista was 16 during the registration and the investigation found that Amihan Esports was fully aware of the teen's true age.

"Maintaining the competitive integrity of all our esports tournaments as well as the safety and well-being of pro teams are Riot’s top priorities, and we take such violations extremely seriously. All our participating teams are expected to abide by the rules of fair play, agreed upon prior to participation in the tournaments. Violations of the rules of fair play will not be tolerated," said Riot Games Southeast Asia Esports in its competitive ruling.

The investigation, however, cleared Bautista of allegations of "map hacking" and found that the Filipino's play was "clean".

The teen esport athlete is facing a nine-month suspension from all Riot events while Villegas and the rest of the Amihan Esports League of Legends Wild Rift squad incurred a year-long ban.

Team owner Mariano, meanwhile, was dealt with the brunt of the sanctions with an indefinite suspension from all Riot events.

Mariano will only be eligible to apply for reinstatement after two years from the date of this announcement.

Apart from the bans, Amihan Esports also forfeit their prize winnings from both the SEA Icon Series Philippines Summer Season and the SEA Icon Series Summer Super Cup. The forfeited prize money will be donated to a charity of Riot’s choice, through the Riot Games Social Impact Fund. 

They also relinquish their slot for the SEA Icon Series Fall Season and Philippine Professional Gaming League will announce a new qualifier to fill their spot.

Amihan Esports were crowned the champions during the summer season of SEA Icon Series Philippines. Meanwhile, they emerged at the top of their group during the group stages of the SEA Icon Series Summer Super Cup but were eliminated during the quarterfinals.