Sinatraa wearing a San Francisco Shock jersey in the Overwatch League before moving to VALORANT

Image provided by Robert Paul

Sinatraa banned from competing in VALORANT for six months

Sinatraa will return later this year.

George Geddes

Published: May 17, 2021 03:07 pm

Editor’s note: This article was updated on May 17 to include Sinatraa and Cleo Hernandez’s responses to the statement.

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Sentinels VALORANT player Jay “Sinatraa” Won has been banned from VALORANT by Riot Games for six months following the alleged sexual assault investigation, the developers announced today.

In a statement published on Monday, Riot said Sinatraa failed to fully co-operate in the investigation, which did not reveal whether Riot had found evidence Sinatraa sexually assaulted his ex-girlfriend Cleo Hernandez.

“Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won has violated Rule 8.1 of the VALORANT Global Competition Policy for failing to fully cooperate with the Tournament Operator’s investigation and will be suspended for six months,” Riot said in its ruling.

Sinatraa is set to return to competition on Sept. 10, which is at the end of the Stage 3 Challenger season and final Masters event. He will be eligible to return for Last Chance Qualifiers and Champions, Riot said. Riot did not rule out the possibility of “further action,” however.

“To the extent that additional material information comes to light, from law enforcement or otherwise, the Competitive Operations team reserves the right to reopen the investigation and take further appropriate action,” Riot said.

The VALORANT developers said they were concerned with Sinatraa’s behavior throughout the course of the investigation. Sinatraa did not cooperate with the investigation, “misrepresented facts” and made “false statements,” Riot said.

The verdict for the sexual assault claims will be released once the authorities involved have revealed their findings from the investigation. Riot said it will defer to the authorities to further investigate factual findings related to the sexual assault allegations. However, Sinatraa is set to undergo professional conduct training before he is allowed to return to competition.

In March, Sinatraa said he would cooperate with the investigation by providing the full video and audio clip of the supposed sexual encounter Hernandez referenced in her statement. Riot did not receive the clip to assist in the investigation, however.

Sinatraa responded to Riot’s investigation statement a few hours later, confirming he did not provide the video in question.