Mav Released from Team Liquid Following Abuse Investigation

Update (March 9th):

After an investigation by Team Liquid about the claims, mav has been dropped by the team.

As explained in the Tweet below, Liquid conducted "in-depth interviews" with those involved and collected relevant voice and chat logs related to the accusations to come to the decision to remove mav from the team, two months after he had been suspended. 

As well as this, the org has donated to the Brazilian women's rights charity, CEPIA as a way of "supporting communities". 

Mav has since responded to this decision stating he plans to continue coaching in R6 Esports, however, he is likely to have issues finding top-tier organizations who'd want to pick up someone with this history.

Original Article (Jan 7th):

After joining Team Liquid as a coach from FaZe Clan last September, Rafael "mav" Loureiro Freitas has been suspended from the team following the surfacing of allegations regarding abuse from two years ago.

The allegations have come from two ex-girlfriends and were supported by two voice logs and 14 screenshots of text messages (which can be seen in Portuguese here). The first of these allegations claimed he had been physically abusive to his ex-girlfriend, with her claiming he had "hit her twice against a wall", leaving her purple with bruises.

The second set, meanwhile, concerned him pressuring an ex-partner into getting an abortion.

He probably turned me purple
On the leg
Because he hit me twice on the wall
Then I screamed that he was hitting me
and the girls ran
On top of him

Mav responded to this on Tuesday night by partially admitting to the first set of accusations in a since-deleted tweet (seen here) before admitting to it again in a second Tweet below:

Guys, I said yes, I was wrong to push my ex -- you shouldn't push ANYONE, period -- but it wasn’t as pictured, but of course I’ll always be canceled and have to read things like 'I am an abuser' when I pushed her away... finally, good night everyone.

This comes following a series of accusations of abuse in the Brazilian scene against a number of current and ex-players, with the caster of Otávio "Retalha" Ceschi releasing a Twitlonger apology in response to one such accusation:

I was wrong to flirt with Lara at a time when I was dating and she was single. There is no justification for my mistake and no excuses.

Mav previously played with the FaZe Clan roster since Season 4 of the Pro League. Since then he has attended all six Pro League Finals, two Six Majors, and three Six Invitationals, peaking with a runners-up finish during Season 8.

This makes him one of the biggest and most successful names in R6 esports. Most recently, he was dropped from FaZe following the Six August Major 2020, at which point he joined their main rivals of Team Liquid as a coach and substitute. 

In his few months on the team, he helped them to the November Regional Major title. However, he will now remain suspended while Team Liquid investigates the allegations. Liquid currently has just the Six Invitational on their calendar, with his future on the team now very unclear.

We wanted to address the statements and incidents that were made public today and yesterday regarding Mav.

These are extremely concerning and serious allegations. We want to assure the community and those who raised these concerns that we are investidating thoroughly, and all work with Mav has been suspended until we complete our investigation.

After first learning of these incidents yesterday, we immediately began conducting a formal review to determine the appropriate course of action, based on Team Liquid's code of conduct. That investigation is still in progress and will take time to ensure we are thoughtfully reviewing all information availavle to us, including what was made public today. We'll share an update as soon as the investigation is complete.

Check back here at SiegeGG for any developments to this story.