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I really did not want to be writing this, but as I am the CEO of an e-sports organization for more than 2 years, I feel like situations like these need to be exposed so that the players and every other professional that work in the e-sport scene can be more careful to not get into scams.
Even though I have some experience(I've been CEO for Black Night Esports for 2 years and doing stuff in the scene since 2015) and thought I was doing something right, I still fell for a scam.
Around 2 or 3 months ago, a new team called TEAM GP posted in their social media that they were in need of new sponsors and donations from their viewers to keep their professional SC2 team. I talked with other players and team owners, and they all agreed that this situation was really hurting TEAM GP's image in the scene. I felt a lot of compassion for the team, as I know that having a team requires a lot of passion and a lot of troubles(not only financial) can appear, especially if you dont have good planning. I contacted the team and told them to delete the post to help their image, and also gave them tips on how to grow and how to look more professional. They started to request things and I told them that I could only help if I was inside the team, as I was focused on Black Night at the time. I thought that the things that they were asking deserved a payment of around 1~2k USD, but my girlfriend convinced me to do it for cheaper, as a way to help the team, so I joined them for 400USD. This money was used to pay for the hours of daily work that I did and also to pay a good image designer.
We agreed, in a verbal contract, the value of 400USD for 3 months, so that I would be able to create a visual identity and build a team structure for them. This way, the team would look solid for any sponsor, and we would start to get some.
For the first month I worked directly with TEAM GP CEO, Lee Goni. We talked constantly about the best players to get, and the wages that they would receive. We also created the new visual identity for the team, which was used in all of their social medias. I also got them a slot into the Chinese Team League, which would net the team at least 3k USD.
In the next month, I made a commercial introduction for them, and kept looking for events for the team to participate. The CEO, Lee Goni, wasnt answering me anymore(its been more than a month since she last answered me), so I was talking to her husband, TheBarTV(COO of Team GP). I got in contact with many people and investors to make them interested in the team, so that they could watch for it and its results(which would generate sponsors later). TheBar started to pressure me, saying that the team was in urgent need of sponsors, and that they had many financial needs. I started to study korean business(especially the ones that had sponsored sc2 before) that could sponsor the team, and made a list of more than 20 possible sponsors for the team. I also helped them set up a Patreon, and told them that the players had to stream for it to start growing. The players didnt stream a single time(probably because the owners didnt ask them to do it), and the owners started to ask me why we didnt get any patreon donor(even though they didnt send the patreon link to anyone and we had no streams). I also looked into new forms of making money(like selling the team uniform near the Afreeca studio in GSL days), but they didnt do anything that I suggested.
When the payday arrived(5 june), I didnt get paid. I sent messages to Lee Goni and TheBar, but I was ignored for 4 days. Today(9 june) I had a talk with TheBar about the payment, and he told me that he didnt want to pay me anymore because they thought that my work was not having the results that they wanted. I understood that, but told them that the fair thing to do was to pay me for 3 months of work(as we had agreed initially) and not only 2.
They also told me that they wouldnt even pay me for the second month(that I did work), as I didnt get them any sponsor(even though the responsability to talk with the korean businesses from the list I made was theirs, as they speak korean and I dont). I told them that they couldnt do that, as I had worked hard all month and deserved to get the money(especially because I also had to pay the designer). They told me that they would only pay me 100USD for the work that the designer had done, but wouldnt pay me anything, as they "could do everything that I had done alone".
In the end they told me that they are not going to pay me the $400 that we had initially agreed, and I will have to pay the designer out of my own pocket.
UPDATE: My problem with TEAM GP is fixed, they paid me in a mutual agreement and everything is fine now.
- André "Pereira".
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+Just to help: They payed the first month, didnt payed the second and the third.
Sorry for my english, i am not native
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Damn...
I saw that first Post here, where they were pretty much begging for money. When the deleted it and entered GTC and also a couple of showmatches, I expected them to be somewhat on track...
Turns out, that was entirely your work and they Scham you over for doing so 
If all These charges are true, I hope they are going to dispand rather quickly now, even though it will mean another GTC Team bites tue dust
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The sad part is that: They are trying to the same of the Nerchio issue, telling lies and cutting the part of few prints to try fake a information.
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Will wait for team GP to make a reply before passing judgement
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On June 10 2020 06:29 mikedupp wrote:
Will wait for team GP to make a reply before passing judgement
They already did some time ago
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Canada8991 Posts
On June 10 2020 06:32 ilax30 wrote:Show nested quote +On June 10 2020 06:29 mikedupp wrote:
Will wait for team GP to make a reply before passing judgement They already did some time ago
Where?
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On June 10 2020 06:29 mikedupp wrote:
Will wait for team GP to make a reply before passing judgement
They created a awnser already, u can check here: and in TeamGP official twitter.
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The team drama really never stops with SCII.
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This is unfortunate but I mean I don't think I'd ever work for an esports team, let alone under the circumstances you described. Hope it works out for you.
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We agreed, in a verbal contract
there's your problem right there. No written contract, no work.
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Bisutopia19384 Posts
On June 10 2020 09:29 ilikeredheads wrote:there's your problem right there. No written contract, no work.
Yup, I did two months programming work for a startup run by a notable politician in the area. I assumed him being such a public and wealthy character that I'd get my pay checks so I kept working while asking for them. After two months I had to bite the bullet on $12k worth of pay and find a different job. I was fortunate enough to land another job a couple days later.
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If you were experienced in this business, you could've avoided all of this by writing the contract.
This is also part your fault NOT CLARIFYING all the terms within papers.
If you were that naive with that experience you had in prior, then you have a problem.
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On June 10 2020 09:59 SupremeMaddox wrote:
If you were experienced in this business, you could've avoided all of this by writing the contract.
This is also part your fault NOT CLARIFYING all the terms within papers.
If you were that naive with that experience you had in prior, then you have a problem.
It's not like anyone in this industry can 'sue' anyone. They'd lose more than what was agreed to be paid just for dedicating the time, effort, and money into any legal matters.
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If only we had big, established teams in SC2. RNGU, Edward Gaming, G2, Heroic, Astralis, EG, BIG, etc.
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Jesus, you'd think an organization with a 'COO' wouldn't struggle to pay out 100 bucks
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On June 10 2020 09:29 ilikeredheads wrote:there's your problem right there. No written contract, no work.
This.
Verbal contract isn't really a contract. I'm sorry to hear that you got tricked
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On June 10 2020 14:22 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On June 10 2020 09:29 ilikeredheads wrote:We agreed, in a verbal contract there's your problem right there. No written contract, no work. This. Verbal contract isn't really a contract. I'm sorry to hear that you got tricked
I think the same, but even if it's written, what's the chance he could sue overseas for $800 (small amount to lawyers)?
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Russian Federation38 Posts
obvious that was coming with their "Help us TLnet" thread..
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On June 10 2020 09:59 SupremeMaddox wrote:
If you were experienced in this business, you could've avoided all of this by writing the contract.
This is also part your fault NOT CLARIFYING all the terms within papers.
If you were that naive with that experience you had in prior, then you have a problem.
Even if they had notarized contracts, it wouldn't do any good if a party did not follow in good faith. Where I'm from, hiring a lawyer to sue requires around a minimum $2000 retainer that you will not get back. Any time a retainer or legal fees exceed the damaged pursued, there is no point in suing. If I filed myself, the base court filing fees start at $200, and go up depending on what I need to file. And that would only be enforceable to residents of your own city/state/province/country. I could sue a guy in Uzbekistan and win all day, but not see a penny except those coming out of my own pocket.
The point is, verbal or good faith is just as good as a contract for such small sums of money and work. If a kid mows my lawn for $20, we don't sign a contract. This guy sounds like he was just being nice, and happened to get taken advantage of.
The only thing that needs to change here is the use of Chief _____ titles in esports organizations.
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Probably different countries and all, but in Germany a verbal contract is indeed binding.
Though mostly used for small things because of the word against word dilemma in court
EDIT:
This issue has been resolved. Locking the thread.
Who? What? Where? How so?
not cool ...
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On June 10 2020 17:30 Harris1st wrote:
Probably different countries and all, but in Germany a verbal contract is indeed binding.
Though mostly used for small things because of the word against word dilemma in court
Yeah was thinking about the same thing.
Unless there are specific laws that require you to make the contract writen (for example when buying a house), the form the the contract doesn t matter here. Obviously it s way easier to proof what was agreed on in court, if it s writen down. So everything to small to go to court for, it s absolutly reasonable to not put extra effort into putting up a written paper, as it wouldn t matter anyways. It comes down to trust then.
I gues in this case, even though the amount of money in question is rather small, writing it down, what the exact duties were, would be quite helpfull...
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I can t find it there, maybe they ve taken it down?
https://twitter.com/TeamGP8
There is a link to their Patreon Page though, with a jucy subscriber count of 0 
I feel like they are wasting quite some potential here..
Super was one of the better players of GTC and Qualified for Code S
Bomber is probably nowhere near his prime, but still has some fans, that are hard stuck in 2014
If they are half as passionate as the Polt fan club, they d happily watch his stream and also support him and his team
Prince is new blood of Code S and has an aura of mystery around him, should be able to capitalise on that as well.
But with how it looks they are not going to make that happen anytime soon..
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Bisutopia19384 Posts
This issue has been resolved. Locking the thread.
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EPT
