Brazilian professional CS:GO player Filipe "pancc" Martins has been suspended for a period of 4 to 6 months by Sharks Esports after he was accused of sexual harassment by a 16-year-old Twitch streamer on social media.
Pancc has been benched from the active roster and will be undergoing therapy. The Brazilian rifler will only be allowed to return if he has the proper medical clearance which is being paid for by the Portuguese organization.
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The 22-year-old was called out on social media for sexual harassment by a teenager on 4th January. She posted a series of WhatsApp and Twitter messages online which highlighted that pancc wanting to have sex with her while also requesting intimate photographs, at the time of this incident the victim was just 15-years-old.
This revelation hit the Brazilian esports community by storm and was apart of a movement where many other esports athletes from the region were called out for various misconducts by their victims. Pancc came forward addressing this issue via a TwitLonger post through which he admitted being guilty of the misconduct and apologized for his actions.
“Hi guys, I'm coming here to write about a very bad thing that happened and an ugly mistake I made. Yes, I made a mistake and it was terrible, I feel like a terrible person, about talking to a girl who was underage.”
While coming forward and accepting his mistake, the Brazilian did clarify that the situation was limited to “nothing more than just a conversation on social networks” and that they never saw each other in real life.
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Pancc is currently signed to the Portuguese esports organization Sharks Esports, who finally took a decision after five days to bench the player following a thorough internal investigation.
A five-person jury comprising of the organizations CEO (Jury Chairman), team manager, an HR professional, a lawyer and the team’s mental coach, was set up to evaluate and decide on the situation. Together they decided not to let go pancc easily by simply kicking him off the roster instead they gave him an opportunity to get treated and give back to the community.
The following actions have been taken by Sharks Esports to make pancc understand that what he did was wrong, while also giving him an opportunity, “to overcome this situation and to rebuild his life, both personally and professionally.” While the organization is keen on helping out pancc, they have clearly stated that if he engages in such behavior again then his contract will be immediately terminated while he faces strict legal actions.
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