Korean League of Legends superstar must pay $4.6 million in compensation for 'sleeping at night'

Lee Ye Chan, the former world champion of League of Legends, was sued by his former organization. After years of wrangling, the court ordered the athlete to pay a large sum of money in compensation.

Gamer Lee Ye Chan (Scout). Photo: JDG .

Recently, the Shanghai City Court (China) issued a verdict in the lawsuit between Edward Gaming (EDG) and Korean League of Legends player Lee Ye Chan (Scout). The above athlete was forced to pay 33.5 million yuan ( 4.6 million USD ) in compensation to the victim, in this case, his former organization.

The lawsuit stems from Scout's departure from EDG at the end of the 2022 season. According to the plaintiff, the aforementioned player unilaterally ended his employment with the organization and joined rival Lining Esports (LNG). Edward Gaming asserted that Lee Ye Chan was still bound by the contract with the priority renewal clauses in effect when the incident occurred.

Scout and the player's management unit were sued for breach of contract, arbitrarily ending the cooperation, causing damage to the Chinese eSports team.

Scout's career peaked with a world championship with EDG. Photo: Riot.

The two sides went to court in 2023, and by the end of last season, EDG had asked the court to ban Lee Ye Chan from leaving the country, when his team had the right to participate in the Worlds finals. Many inside sources revealed that LNG and Scout's teammates had to lend him money to settle with the old organization. In the end, this gamer still made it to Worlds 2024.

However, with the recent ruling from the Shanghai Municipal Court, Korean players are facing one of the largest compensations in the eSports industry. The amount Scout must pay includes more than 4 million yuan for signing fees, 10 million yuan for breach of contract damages, and 18.3 million yuan for prepaid wages. This does not include court fees and bank interest for the 2 years of litigation.

According to the court's request, Lee Ye Chan must reimburse the above amount. Otherwise, his assets will be frozen and liquidated. This information surprised many people because the income of this League of Legends player is not low. According to estimates from Esports Weekly , Scout's contract with LNG is worth about 20 million USD /year, higher than even the top players in Europe.

This Korean player was discovered by SKT T1 (now T1). However, Scout had little chance to play when Faker's position in this team was untouchable. He came to China and joined EDG in 2016, experiencing many ups and downs with the organization. During this period, Lee Ye Chan was ranked among the top mid laners in the LPL along with Rookie, Xiaohu and DoinB.

Scout's career peak came in 2021, when EDG recruited super marksman Viper and top laner Flandre, winning the world championship that same year. In addition, Lee Ye Chan has a close relationship with SofM (Le Quang Duy), a Vietnamese player who won the runner-up position at the 2020 world finals.

Source: https://znews.vn/Korean-LMHT-Superstar-Has-Awarded-4-6-Trieu-usd-Vi-Di-Dem-post1563076.html