Rekryterades av spelarna

"Vi har bara jobbat med Johnathan under en väldigt kort period, han plockades in av spelarna från början för att representera dem och verkade vara både en professionell och sympatisk person med goda referenser, så vi hade ingen anledning att neka spelarna deras önskan. Under den första tiden med Copenhagen Wolves fyllde han sin roll på alla sätt vi hade hoppats", lyder en del av uttalandet från Kristensen.

Pengarna kunde endast delas ut via Steam

"När det blev dags för utbetalningen blev vi ärligt talat ganska chockade över att inse att pengarna enbart kunde betalas ut via Steam, speciellt när Johnathan var personen som hade laddat upp vår logotyp från början. Vi försökte kontakta VALVE och fråga om möjligheten att få skicka en faktura eller något annat alternativ, men utan framgång. Dock var stora delar av denna kommunikation hanterad av Johnathan. Återigen hade vi inga anledningar att misstro honom eller hans motiv", fortsätter Kristensen.

Copenhagen 20-11-2014





Regarding the situation involving Johnathan Daniels and the ESL Cologne sticker money.



First and foremost we wish to apologise for not issuing a public statement on this matter earlier on in the process. It was deemed, in collaboration with the players, that the chances of succeeding in reclaiming the rest of the lost money was better without a public dispute and the added pressure it brings.



We have only been working with Johnathan for a very short period of time, he was originally brought in from the players side to represent their interests and seemed a professional and likeable person with good credentials, so we had no reason to deny the players their wish. For the first period of his time with the Copenhagen Wolves he fulfilled his role in any way we could have wished.



When the time came for the pay-outs of the ESL Cologne Sticker money, we were honestly quite shocked to realise that the money could only be paid out through Steam, especially since Johnathan was the person who had originally uploaded our logo. We attempted to contact VALVE and ask for the possibility of invoicing or other options but without success, though large parts of this communication was handled by Johnathan. Again, at this point we had no reasons to distrust him or his motives.



After talking things through with the players, we ended up asking them to make a decision if the money being paid through Johnathan was an acceptable solution. We as an organisation were only taking a very minor cut, so we felt that this should be the players decision and not ours since it was their money. After agreeing to this solution, we figured the ordeal was over which as everyone know by now, it wasn’t.



After initially being told by the players that Johnathan had blocked every single member of our organisation and team’s phone, Skype, Facebook and Steam my immediate reaction was disbelief, this was a guy all of our players had nothing but praised. I reached out to some personal friends of mine from the United Kingdom and gave them his phone number, hoping they could talk some sense into him before this thing became public. I contacted people he had worked with before in his eSport career and generally was trying to find any way possible to get to talk with him. That same evening, I succeeded.



It was a clearly distressed person that called me up later that day, claiming that he had never intended to steal the money and still had the full amount on his account. Given the delicate situation we were in, I tried to be as reasonable and forgiving as possible. He told me that he would immediately wire the money to every single player, all I had to do was provide the bank information to him since he had no desire to communicate with the players directly. I provided him with the needed information and he promised me he would send over screenshots and confirmations of the transfers as soon as they were sent.



This was the last I heard from Johnathan, as he afterwards blocked my phone number and every single one of the people who I had asked to reach out to him. We were happy to hear that the players were starting to receive money, though sadly far from the amount that they should have. We have since tried several ways of getting in contact with Johnathan but without any luck.



We as an organization will continue to support our players in any way possible in the attempt of reclaiming what is rightfully theirs and we hope that this situation can help caution other teams and hopefully make VALVE consider the current process of only paying out such large amounts of money through a Steam profile.



Jakob Lund Kristensen

Founder, Copenhagen Wolves

Efter nyheterna om hur Copenhagen Wolves manager stulit närmare 130 000 kronor av spelarnas berättigade ersättning för ESL One Cologne-klistermärkena har organisationens grundare, Jakob Lund Kristensen, talat ut om situationen.I uttalandet berättar Kristensen att managern i fråga gjort sitt jobb väl, och att organisationen inte hade någon anledning att misstro honom. En av anledningarna till detta är just att managern i fråga specifikt rekryterades på spelarnas begäran.Problematiken grundar sig inte bara i att organisationen förlitade sig på managern, utan också i att pengarna endast kunde delas ut via Valves spelplattform Steam, detta förmodat för att minska olika former av avgifter. Organisationen kände inte till detta, och då managern var personen som hanterade inlämningen av Copenhagen Wolves logotyp för de framtida klistermärkena blev han automatiskt kontaktpersonen för de framtida utbetalningarna. Hade pengarna istället kunnat betalas ut via faktura hade inte pengarna behövt gå via en sorts mellanhand.Vidare fortsätter grundaren att förklara hur managern blockerade alla Copenhagen Wolves-representanter både på telefon och diverse social media för att göra sig så svåråtkomlig om möjligt. Att man sedan, via hans före detta arbetskamrater, lyckades få tag på honom för att dock bara få en del av pengarna utbetalda. Avslutningsvis lovar Copenhagen Wolves att fortsätta stödja sitt lag och göra allt i sin kraft för att få samtliga pengar utbetalda. Hela uttalandet från Jakob Lund Kristensen finner ni i rutan nedan.