Fortnite champions lost all prize money due to Russian passports

Russian eSports players Daniil Putrick Abdrakhmanov and Egor Swizzy Lucico won $200,000 at the Fortnite Champion Series Major 3 tournament, but the organizers of the tournament, Epic Games, refused to pay them the winnings. The reason for the insoluble problems for the champions was their Russian citizenship and tax residency.

On March 5, 2022, Epic Games, the company that owns Fortnite: Battle Royale and the Epic Games Store, partially withdrew from Russia. In addition, the Russian Federation was included in the category of "regions with restrictions on receiving prizes".

Shortly before the tournament, Abdrakhmanov and Lyusiko tried to circumvent the restrictions by opening a bank account in Kazakhstan and moving to Minsk, where they lived and played the entire tournament. Belarus is not included in the list of "banned" countries, such as Russia and Turkey.

However, the Russians did not succeed in deceiving Epic Games. They still remained tax residents of Russia and therefore lost all the money they won.

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