StarCraft World Champion arrested on match-fixing charges

Lee “Life” Seung-Hyun, the 2014 StarCraft World Champion, has been arrested in South Korea on suspicion of match-fixing.

The 19-year-old was taken into custody for questioning on Friday, though it was officially announced that he had been arrested and charged on Sunday with ‘receiving money to match-fix’.

A report from the Changwon Police District prosecutor’s office suggests Life has been implicated in a series of fixed matches confirmed to be in relation to last year’s nine further arrests.

The 2015 scandal, which saw coaches and players arrested including Prime’s head coach Park “Gerrard” Oi Sik and Choi “YoDa” Byung Hyun, has now claimed the highest profile name of any in StarCraft’s sadly tarnished history.

Life began competing when he was just 14, taking his first major title a year later. He is considered one of the best Zerg players in the world.

It is unknown which matches Life is alleged to have fixed, though the investigation is being carried out by the same members of the Korean Cyber Bureau as have been prosecuting the nine from last year.

The Korean eSports Association (KeSPA) again reiterated their zero-tolerance policy on illegal activities such as match-fixing, though the history of StarCraft at a professional level suggests this warning will fall again on deaf ears.

In 2010, a ring of match-fixers was broken in the StarCraft: Brood War professional community, implicating several of the game’s top talents.