Cover-Credits:
On June 28th, James Banks published a document which detailed allegations of power abuse and physical assault by Paul "Redeye" Chaloner. Redeye denied most of these allegations and stated that he had never gotten into a physical confrontation with anyone.
On June 29th, James Banks published a second document which contained unverified allegations about Redeye abusing his family as well as other accounts of his power abuse in the esports industry.
Later on June 29th, Redeye retired from esports and resigned as managing director of Code Red Esport stating that he could not cope up with the cruelty and viciousness of these attacks when his children got dragged into it.
Many in the community were also reluctant to believe James Banks’ accusations since almost all accounts of Redeye’s abuse of power were given on the condition of anonymity. However, one of the allegers has finally come forward and stated that the instance of physical abuse in James Banks’ accounts is true.
Victim Confirms James Banks Allegations of Redeye’s Physical Abuse at Gfinity
Sam Van Tilburgh who worked as the Head of Marketing at Gfinity from May 2015 - August 2017 corroborated James Banks’ allegations against Redeye by stating that he was “the person punched at work” by Redeye in 2015.
Tilburg also adds that the fight at Gfinity wasn’t just a verbal squabble but that Redeye actually punched him twice in the ribs and once in the stomach. He also added that Redeye didn’t apologise to him until years later and that he never apologised to Redeye. He also stated that Redeye was forcibly put on leave and sent on a vacation.
This is contrary to Redeye’s claims about the two getting into a verbal fight and then apologising to each other the very next day.
Note: “Handbags at dawn” is a British phrase used to talk about a situation in which two individuals seem angry and threatening but do not actually fight.
Sam Van Tilburgh claimed that everyone at Gfinity was glad to see Redeye leave and added that the esports industry is better off without him.
In a reply, Tilburgh stated that he was forced to respond after Redeye’s first response to James Banks claimed that there was no physical assault.
After Tilburgh’s statements, James Banks thanked him profusely for coming forward in public and corroborating his version of events. He also stated that the abuse and threats he was getting were crazy and called him brave for coming forward.
