Tommy “Taiga” Le has broken his month-long silence following the match-fixing allegations that rocked the Dota 2 community in early April. The Norwegian Dota player finally addressed the controversy surrounding his tenure with OG years ago.
In a detailed investigation by Dota 2 content creator Morf, Taiga was accused of conspiring with the “322 Mafia” to manipulate matches in 2023 for betting purposes. His former partner in crime, Alexander “Sensibility” Filatov, further implicated Taiga by providing evidence that he had shared insider information to aid in these schemes.
Today, Taiga released a lengthy statement on social media, admitting to sharing confidential team strategies and live streaming his matches to Sensibility for betting purposes. However, he vehemently denied any direct involvement with the 322 Mafia, as well as any deliberate attempts to lose games or place bets against his team.
“The transactions mentioned in the video never happened, nor did I profit from them. It was never about the money; it was a tool to fuel an addiction. The ‘mafia’ were never directly involved with me. Sensibility likes to think of himself as one to seem cool,” Taiga stated. “I have NEVER thrown a map on purpose or bet against my team, including betting on first bloods.”
Taiga explained that he shared information with Sensibility to repay a debt and to keep him at bay during matches. “Yes, I have disclosed info to Sensibility for his own bets since I did owe him at the time and streamed so he can do his own thing and get off my back so I could focus on the match. Everything I did was the result of negotiating with him because he wanted me to throw matches, which I never did and never will. This was the least damaging option to keep him quiet.”
He extended an apology to OG and his former teammates for the unwanted attention and scandal, accusing Morf and Sensibility of orchestrating the content for views. At age 26, Taiga has declared his retirement from professional Dota 2, stating he is ready to face any punishments from tournament organizers and Valve as he focuses on his recovery.
