VALORANT Pro Sinatraa Handed Six Month Ban by Riot Games

Following an extensive investigation, Jay “Sinatraa” Won has been handed a six-month suspension by Riot Games. The news comes following an allegation that the VALORANT pro sexually assaulted his girlfriend.

Riot concluded that the former Sentinels player had broken Rule 8.1 of the VALORANT Global Competition Policy, which reads “failing to fully cooperate with the Tournament Operator’s investigation”. As a result of the suspension, the 21-year-old will be unable to compete in any professional VALORANT games.

Why Sinatraa Was Under Investigation by Riot

While Sinatraa has been banned from competing, Riot has made no comment on the allegations made by the American’s girlfriend, Cleo “Cle0h” Hernandez. The decision came directly as a result of his actions during the investigation. Cle0h had previously posted about experiences she had while dating the former Overwatch League player.

What Riot Has Said on the Matter

Sinatraa quickly denied such allegations, before revealing that he would be

“fully cooperating with the investigations and providing the full audio and video clips Cleo referenced in her post”.

However, according to Riot, this did not happen. They have since released the following statement:

While the investigation did not come to a definitive conclusion on the underlying allegations, the Competitive Operations team had serious concerns with Sinatraa’s conduct during the course of the investigation. It was determined that on at least two occasions Sinatraa misrepresented certain facts, made false statements, and did not cooperate with the investigation in a way expected of a professional VALORANT esports player.

Of note, Sinatraa’s public commitment on social media to provide the full audio and video clip referenced in the original post was never fulfilled. Cooperation in these investigations is of the utmost importance, especially when the nature of the allegations is as serious as sexual assault. This behavior will not be tolerated by VALORANT Esports.”

The relevant law enforcement will now be taking over the investigation, however Sinatraa has certainly done himself no favors by failing to work with Riot on the matter. The American will have to complete professional conduct training before he is able to return to competitive action too.