Scout paid $4 million to the Chinese government, here’s why

Luke Warr Published September 25, 2024

LNG’s mid laner Lee “Scout” Ye-chan recently announced that he was forced to pay the Chinese government almost $4 million worth of Chinese yuan, and here’s why.

Scout has been at the center of some wild contract controversies in recent weeks. EDG, Scout’s previous team, claimed to a Chinese court that Scout signed a contract with LNG before he had officially been entered into free agency. As a result, EDG was seeking reparations to the tune of 30 million RMB. With the legal dispute ongoing, he was placed under a travel ban by the Chinese government, unable to leave China. On September 23, 2024, the mid master revealed he forked out 30 million yuan to a Chinese court.

Here’s how Scout got in hot water with the Chinese government and what it took to get him out.

Why did Scout pay the Chinese government $4 million?

LNG mid Scout paid $4 million to the Chinese government to circumvent his travel ban and attend Worlds 2024.

For a while, it seemed like Scout wasn’t going to make Worlds at all, with his travel ban and ongoing litigation with EDG in effect. But, in a last-minute video published to social media, it’s been announced that Scout will be able to attend, at a high cost. In order to have his travel ban lifted, he needed to place the full value of EDG’s lawsuit as a deposit with the court before leaving the country. Despite it being a huge sum of money, Scout put it together and will play for LNG at Worlds 2024.

According to translations of a video from Scout, Chen “Gala” Wei lent Scout 5 million RMB, and somebody from the EDG roster lent him 3 million RMB to help pay the Chinese government. The incident highlights the huge sums of money that League of Legends esports command in China as well as the high stakes of player contracts. Even LNG seemed uncertain if its star mid would be able to attend, getting permission from Riot for an emergency substitution before it was announced Scout would play.

Worlds 2024 begins September 25, 2024, with the play-ins stage. LNG will play once the Swiss stage arrives along with the rest of the LPL seeds.