British esports journalist Richard Lewis has published screenshots of the correspondence between CS:GO team coaches Nicolai HUNDEN Petersen and representatives of Astralis. The correspondence established that the coach had signed a contract to work with the club before the expiration of his contract with the organization Heroic.
Despite having a valid contract with Heroic until May 2022, HUNDEN contacted Astralis' sports director Kasper Hvidt on March 8, 2021, when Hvidt offered Petersen a coaching position in the Astralis team. By March 19, HUNDEN had received a contract for review, but the only problem was the ban imposed by ESIC, which made it difficult to sign the document.
On March 31, Petersen received a Hellosign document containing a job contract. By April 2, the contract had already been signed by HUNDEN and Astralis CEO Anders Hørsholt using an electronic signature. By the end of April, one internal source informed Heroic that Astralis was negotiating with Petersen.
On June 1, Astralis' sports director sent HUNDEN a revised contract for signing. In response, the Danish coach stated that he was postponing signing until he received offers from Heroic's owners.
According to Richard Lewis, these documents indicate that HUNDEN was working for Astralis while still employed by Heroic. This led to Petersen passing tactical documents to the Astralis coaching staff ahead of a match between the two teams at IEM Cologne 2021. As a result, HUNDEN received a ban from ESIC and was suspended from coaching for two years.
On December 2, 2022, it was announced that ESIC had lifted the ban on HUNDEN. Later, on January 5, 2023, the esports club Astralis announced that Petersen had been signed as an analyst for the CS:GO main roster.
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