Counter-Strike 2 Pro Aleksib Faces Four-Month Suspended Prison Sentence Over Charges of Aggravated Tax Fraud

Counter-Strike 2 pro Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen is facing a possible four-month suspended prison sentence over alleged “aggravated tax fraud” after failing to declare income from in-game sticker sales. In Counter-Strike 2, players can purchase virtual stickers and place them on their weapons. These are in-game items that can be bought on the Steam Marketplace, the CS2 Store, or through third-party websites. It’s not uncommon for professional teams to get a cut of the money earned from sticker sales and other in-game purchases when they compete at major tournaments — and it’s this revenue that prosecutors say Virolainen failed to include on his tax forms.

On Friday, October 16, an indictment was read aloud at the Eastern Uusimaa District Court that accused the pro player of failing to declare €53,000 in income (about $59,553.18 USD) from Valve in 2020, the developer of Counter-Strike 2. Prosecutors claimed that he was able to avoid paying an estimated €28,000 ($31,441 USD) in taxes as a result — but he said he wasn’t aware that this income needed to be declared.

While Virolainen admitted that he failed to declare these earnings, he stated that he was just 22 years old at the time with no real understanding of how the tax system worked. The Defense maintained that he was under the impression that his taxes had been fully handled, since taxes had already been taken out of his general income, and that he did not seek any financial gain from failing to report them.

As reported by Finnish news outlet Iltalehti, the alleged offense took place between May 19, 2020 and September 22, 2020 in Vantaa, Finland. A subpoena stated that the player did not return a pre-filled tax return form for the 2019 year and did not report any missing income from Valve. Prosecutors are demanding that he serve a four-month suspended prison sentence for the alleged offense.

Virolainen has not been formally convicted of the supposed crime, and a district court is set to issue a ruling on the case at a later date. The now-29-year-old Aleksib is still an active player, currently representing Natus Vincere.