Thanks to the anonymity of the internet and the fact that people hadn't really accounted for something like this happening, the matter seemed to be pretty much closed. The perpetrator had done a perfect "ninja vanish" cash and all, the people who got ripped off left unsure of how they could legally pursue the matter. Most only knew the gaming handle, a very select few knew that his first name was "Chris" but with nothing to go on it was effectively just another internet scam that there would be no comeback for. And while we all know e-sports does have some shady goings on even now, this was an out and out act of fraud, so brazen in its execution that it is almost unbelievable, especially looking at it now retrospectively. But nothing can stay buried forever and Mark managed to chance upon a discovery that would dig up the past in an unexpected way.

"I saw a video of Club:AI at LAN79. I could have sworn it was him, but it was a glimpse and I didn’t think he would be so stupid as to surface, let alone to do so around people who he had ripped off. Then there was the post with the picture of him with his beaming grin and distinctive ginger hair. I just thought "Gotcha!" The main thing is I’m glad this time round, because we did pursue it before, people have come forward and been willing to help get everyone their money back as at the time no one really seemed to care. I tried my best but as I had no direct access to anything I couldn’t do a thing."

Indeed the fraudster had returned and had been managing the gaming organisation Club:AI for some time. He had planned lots of other projects and where he had once displayed caution he was moving more and more into the public eye, travelling everywhere with his CSS team and becoming involved with the media for promotional purposes. The team’s prominence raised a lot of eyebrows in the UK scene as they seemed to have the kind of backing that more established teams were lacking, sending a CSS side that was realistically not expected to finish amongst the prizes to European tournaments. This was achieved seemingly without sponsors but it is unknown exactly what the source of their funding was. Cynical types allege that the funding comes from scams, but this is impossible to determine. One thing that is for certain is that Chris Johnson showed little remorse when confronted with the facts and he even went to release a statement that is at best naïve, at worst bordering on mockery:

"I was waiting for this day to come.

EuroCSS was a long time ago and people have moved on and I am one of those. Four years is a long time and since then I have had no contact with e-sports in anyway.

Yes I agree it was a mistake and I hold my hands up, but I have moved on, over the past five months I have built Club:AI to what it is currently. Yes, I know you all have different thoughts of who I was, but I am no longer that person.

I will carry on with Club:AI."

Unsurprisingly this statement did not appease anybody and it brought the matter to the attention to many who had been unaware of the extent of the money swindled and to a generation of competitive players who were not active when EuroCSS was on the horizon. There was no mention of any intent to pay back the money and he was unwilling to listen to or make contact with the individual parties who all have a claim. After committing what can be safely described as the most fraudulent operation in UK Counter-Strike, Chris Johnson was still labouring under the delusion that it could be shrugged off with a nonchalant apology and a distortion of the details… He was to be disappointed when he learned that Tony Oldfield was pursuing the matter legally.

"Well of course the apology, if it can be called that, was a total slap in the face" said the litigant "it’s barely an apology at all. It’s not as if I wouldn’t rather settle it the honourable way and work something out, but after that you know that hoping for something like that is unrealistic. This time around there is much more communication between people and myself who know the legality of how to go about these things. With help from TLR and Reason Gaming staff as well as CGS man Paul "Redeye" Chaloner, we are beginning to gather enough evidence from the event so that this con artist can get what is coming to him."

Since revealing himself the Club:AI manager has not been seen or heard from. Perhaps it is best he does not return as despite his determination to "continue" he will find that the Club:AI name, whether fairly or not, is tarnished by his actions. Already their current set of players, both the male and female CSS teams, have left the organisation and have even found themselves having to deal with some of the fallout. Spare them a thought – they have gone from having a sponsorship that promised so much and already had began to start delivering on that promise, only to find themselves without any backing and some easy ammunition to be fired at them if anyone wants to take such a cheap shot. James "Pez" Perrott speaks for the whole team when he says

"Look at it from my point of view. I come online to find this huge wave of hatred towards our manager and then realise that it’s all justified as he stole a lot of money. Yet my personal experiences with him are all good. He delivered what he promised to us personally and we got along with him very well. He was a nice guy, but after what he's done there is no explanation and he cannot be forgiven. I just don’t understand why someone who had done that would show their face again"

I can empathise with that totally. I’d met Chris and he seemed like a genuine guy, both Enthusiastic and knowledgable about the scene in general. He has appeared on my radio show and we had a lot of similar opinions. However much he knew about the scene though he chronically underestimated how long people’s memories can be about petty things, let alone an undertaking of this magnitude. I think he also, bizarrely, expected some sort of sympathy in the face of it all. I’d hoped to make contact with him for this very piece, allow him to try and maybe frame it in a way where he does not come across as a simple criminal, motivated by greed and oblivious to the consequences of his actions. But he has gone to ground and is likely not to resurface, not until the court summons arrives at his address and he has to deal with the reality of paying back all the money plus interest.

Without his input people are free to draw their own conclusions and this piece of writing is little more than epitaph to both EuroCSS and Club:AI, both of which were effectively destroyed by the same person. The likelihood is that this story will remain in the scene folklore for some time. After all people have faked skills, faked names, faked teams, faked jobs and faked facts in CSS before - but who else was the right mix of bold and stupid enough to fake an entire LAN competition then flee with their ill gotten gains? It is something that will never be repeated, but will also never be forgotten, the proof of which is in the delayed reprisals coming the way of the man behind it. As Mark Harwood summed up during our time together "It just shows that no matter what, you cant hide behind your alias..."