Florescent faces sexual assault allegations, Riot responds

Two-time VALORANT Game Changers Championship winner Ava “florescent” Eugene has received allegations of sexual assault. Developer Riot Games has said it will “cooperate fully with any legal investigation” and assess whether the allegations will affect florescent’s eligibility to compete in Riot events.

Allegations made against florescent

The allegations against florescent were revealed by Marceline “karie” Carson, a player who has competed in Game Changers tournaments since late 2021. In a post on X, karie linked a Google document in which she detailed the allegations on behalf of Brick, an unnamed alleged victim.

The claims focus on an incident between florescent and Brick at the former’s Canada home on January 3rd, 2024. In the document, karie details the event in which florescent is alleged to have changed the password on Brick’s mobile phone upon arrival in an attempt to prevent her from leaving, before initiating sexual advancements which caused Brick physical pain.

Some time later, and with Brick still in pain, florescent is said to have refused to arrange for Brick’s trip back home until they were intimate for a second time. The document alleges that Brick “never gave verbal consent and was consistently saying no and resisting” florescent’s second round of advances.

According to section 273.1 of Canada’s legal code, consent for sexual activity has not been obtained when one party induces the other ‘to engage in the activity by abusing a position of trust, power or authority’ or where one party ‘expresses, by words or conduct, a lack of agreement to engage in the activity’, amongst other scenarios. Florescent was 17 years old at the time of the alleged incident.

Florescent’s response

Florescent responded to the allegations through her own post on X, denying “any and all” accusations of sexual assault. The former Apeks player explained that she was seeking “immediate legal assistance” to navigate the situation, both to prove her innocence as well as determine what she can share publicly.

“I wish I could provide evidence for the public to see immediately, but I have been asked to refrain from sharing at this time for my own safety.”

Brick’s statement

Shortly after florescent’s response, karie made another X post, this time with a new document which she claims to have been written by Brick. The document goes into detail about many aspects of Brick and florescent’s tumultuous relationship, which Brick labelled “incredibly toxic, abusive, and controlling”.

Brick also recounts the alleged events of January 3rd in the document, explaining how she “gave up on resisting” florescent’s advances in order to have her trip home facilitated.

“After that, she let me leave. I cried the entire Uber ride back, and once I was home, I texted a close friend about what happened, recounting what she did to me.”

The document includes screenshots of what Brick claims are the messages she sent to a friend immediately after the incident. Also included are a multitude of text conversations said to be between Brick and florescent, showing the latter’s alleged abusive behaviour.

Riot responds

VALORANT developer Riot Games later released its own statement in a post on X via its official VALORANT Champions Tour channel. In the statement, Riot confirmed that it had been made aware of the allegations, adding that they are ‘among the most serious an individual can face’ and that anyone with ‘relevant information’ should contact their local law enforcement.

With regards to a potential competitive ruling, Riot stated that its Competitive Operations Team will ‘assess whether these allegations affect the individual’s future eligibility’ while they cooperate with any legal investigation that may occur following the allegations.

The statement unusually omitted florescent’s name altogether, only referring to allegations made against an unnamed ‘competitor’. Comparisons were quickly drawn with Riot’s handling of allegations made against former competitor Jay “Sinatraa” Won in 2021. After he was publicly accused of sexual assault by a former partner, Riot released a statement naming the player and immediately launched their own investigation. Sinatraa was suspended from competing while the investigation took place.

While not currently competing, florescent is still contracted to Apeks following her stepping down from the roster after their VCT EMEA Stage 1 exit last month.

Former teammates speak out

Florescent’s former Shopify Rebellion teammates and coach, with whom she won both of her GC Championships, each released a joint statement on the situation. The five explained how they were “horrified” as they read the earlier documents and affirmed their belief in the victim’s telling of events.

“Flor’s behavior was reprehensible, regardless of whether any additional anecdotes or evidence are released. We were horrified reading through the conversations that were shared. To the victims: we believe you, and our thoughts are with you at this time. Although one victim’s terrible experiences brought this all to light, screenshots and conversations from older relationships show an undeniable pattern of manipulation (including putting others in unsafe and compromised positions).”

Sarah “sarah” Simpson expanded on the statement in a follow-up post, going into more detail about her time living with florescent while competing together. Sarah noted that, while she couldn’t confirm the validity of the accusations revealed by karie, she “would like to attest to the accusations of an extremely malicious pattern of behavior that involved emotional manipulation, ‘suicide baiting’, and pathological lying”.

She added that she had implored florescent to get “professional help” during that time and “did not believe her capable of the level of harm that is alleged”, but reevaluated her position following the revelations.