Riot Games Under Fire After Allegedly Allowing Sinatraa To Skip Personnel Training

Jay "Sinatraa" Won is returning to competitive VALORANT after a six-month suspension from Riot Games expired in January 2021 following an investigation over an alleged sexual assault.

As the esport pro looks to return to one of the best sides in the world in Sentinels - the parent organisation that he has been with since before the allegations and investigations began - the community has turned the screw on Riot Games, after Sinatraa himself let slip that the developers allowed him to skip sensitivity training that he was sanctioned to partake. 

Riot Games Seemingly Allow Sinatraa To Skip Sensitivity Training Following Suspension

Sinatraa's return has divided the VALORANT community, and the wider esports scene, with many believing the public evidence against the accused to be too damning to ignore, while many loyal fans believe he is innocent until proven guilty by the letter of the law. However, with the lawsuit now dropped by the accuser, who claimed the stress of the saga was making her feel suicidal, Sinatraa is now able to compete again whether people agree or not. 

Following a massive community backlash, Sinatraa released another statement, in which he doubled down on not committing a crime, albeit admitting to being "a s**tty boyfriend" and causing "emotional hurt". 

Backing up his statement, Sinatraa showed an email from a registered Riot Games email (the employee in question has been blurred) in which the developers clarify he is eligible to play again. Unbeknownst to Sinatraa, the email also says, "for additional context, the training was supposed to focus on 'cooperating with investigations', however, we feel like you would already know most of the information covered in training," implying that the sanction was never enforced.  

Riot Games previously sanctioned Sinatraa to "complete professional conduct training prior to being able to return to play". This came into play as Riot Games detailed, "it was determined that on at least two occasions Sinatraa misrepresented certain facts, made false statements, and did not cooperate with the investigation," and "Sinatraa's public commitment on social media to provide the full audio and video clip referenced in the original post was never fulfilled."

Riot Games Under Fire From VALORANT Community Over Sinatraa's Return

After learning of Riot Games' exception to the sanctions, the accuser of the sexual assault allegations against Sinatraa claimed that the developer's actions are "disgusting" and has already contacted Riot Games for clarification on their reasoning. She also confirmed that the ban was imposed for Sinatraa's refusal to cooperate and deliberate lies, as per Riot Games.

Esports personalities such as Jake Lucky also found the ruling to be baffling, taking to Twitter to say: "How is it possible that someone can allegedly lie and not comply with a SA investigation and only be issued a 6-month suspension and not even forced to do their training as their only punishment… wtf riot." 

Sinatraa is being highly linked with a return to Sentinels' VALORANT roster and could be back playing as soon as VCT Stage 2, which begins in May.