Dota 2 pro Tommy “Taiga” Le released a statement today seeking to clear his name after being embroiled in a match-fixing scandal. The statement admitted to a number of allegations against him, but stopped short of a full confession.

Earlier in the saga, an investigation by Dota 2 content creator Morf detailed the allegations, accusing Taiga of working with the “322 Mafia” to fix matches in 2023 while on OG for betting. In the recent statement, Taiga acknowledged his struggles with gambling addiction. “Late last year, I posted about battling addiction and becoming someone else when my brain became more damaged and corrupted,” Taiga said. “Everything about me changed, including my principles and my dreams.” He claims that this addiction negatively affected his behavior, but maintains his innocence regarding throwing matches.

While he denied outright match-fixing, Taiga admitted to sharing information with a third party called Sensibility for their betting purposes, and claimed he was pressured because of his addiction. "There hasn't been a day that I don't feel depressed and guilty about it," he wrote. "Everything I did was a result of 'bargaining' with him because he wanted me to throw matches, which I have never done and never will."

The Dota 2 community remains divided on the issue. Some have expressed sympathy for Taiga's struggles, with one fan noting, "I'm probably alone in this, but I do feel sorry for him. That doesn't mean I think he should ever be able to play Dota again. People throw their lives away because of all kinds of addictions, and that's tragic."