Turkish Valorant star cNed has explained his involvement in the ongoing Twitch money laundering scandal that Riot Games has been investigating since a data breach on the platform revealed suspicious payouts for some streamers.
Update Nov 3
Acend released a statement reaffirming that cNed had no link to the Twitch money laundering scheme.
The player has not been contacted by Twitch, Riot, or local officials, but both cNed and Acend are open to cooperating if they get contacted by investigators.
Riot Games and Twitch have yet to comment on the situation with four weeks left until VCT Champions.
Original story follows below…
An Upcomer translation from Mehmet Yağız ‘cNed’ İpek’s November 1 stream detailed how the Valorant pro benefitted from the scheme.
“To be honest I don’t really have a statement to make about the topic because I’ve not even once messaged the bit-dude, he did not reach out to me [directly] once,” cNed said. “He talked with my older brother.
“That guy sent me the bits, the bits transferred to me. I didn’t report those bits to Twitch, I acknowledge that. I didn’t report to Twitch and took the money.”
In his stream, cNed maintained his innocence from the larger scam that has already implicated several Valorant pros from the region.
A clip from his stream showed him getting a massive 100,000 bit donation ($1000). Though he was awarded the amount, cNed’s brother, Alihan ‘deNc’ İpek, said that he did not comply with the scammers.
DeNc detailed the extent of his and the 19-year-old Valorant ace’s involvement in an October 31 post.
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“I wanted to make a statement because we were targeted in order not to upset Mehmet’s fans and to clarify the matter,” deNc said. “We decided that we did not want to do such a thing.”
“I told the friend in question that we did not want to deal with this business. He then asked me for the price of the bit and said that if we don’t throw more bits he will send more bits and bug the channel. In addition, the bit transmission took place against Mehmet’s request.”
CNed disputes involvement in Twitch laundering
CNed has since taken issue with early reports on his Twitch stream, particularly with suggestions that he was knowingly involved in the Twitch money laundering scandal.
He wrote on Twitter: “What a good idea for a click,” in reference to early report headlines, before adding he specifically disputes that he “admits involvement in Twitch money laundering scandal.”
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According to the Turkish star, he had no communication with the scammers in question.
“I’m just saying they can write in a good way,” cNed said. “I’m disagreeing with [the titles], not with the articles.”
Im just saying they can write in a good way. Im disagreeing with the title not with the article
— Mehmet Yağız İpek (@cNedf0r) November 2, 2021
The Twitch money laundering scheme revolves around stolen credit cards that are used to make anonymous bit donations to streamers. Once the funds are received, a portion of the clean money is given back to the perpetrators while the streamer keeps a cut.
Both Riot Games and Twitch are separately investigating the ongoing Valorant matter, which is believed to involve hundreds of accounts.
