Popular streamer and esports team owner MoistCr1TiKaL has revealed he and his org Moist Esports are suing U.S. immigration for the treatment of their Apex Legends roster and issues in securing visas ahead of this week’s ALGS Split One playoffs in Los Angeles.
An angry MoistCr1TiKaL announced he was seeking legal action on May 4, saying the U.S. immigration system was rife with “pure, rotten-to-the-core blatant corruption” and described the whole journey of dealing with the government service as “infuriating.” Much of what MoistCr1TiKaL said echoed his sentiment from early April when the team’s journey from Australia to the U.S. was thrown into turmoil following news Aussie players Ben “Wxltzy” Walton and Matthew “Emtee” Trengove would not be granted entry visas.
“We fought a losing battle against U.S. immigration,” MoistCr1TiKaL said, claiming his players’ attempts at securing an ESTA visa were futile due to “one bedwetting homunculus agent there who has a grudge against our esports organization.” MoistCr1TiKaL believes he and his team have a case after consulting with lawyers, but explains that regardless of a win in court, there is little to no chance his team make back the money they lost to get there.
“It turns out that there is corruption built into the U.S. constitution itself where, even if we’re successful in beating U.S. Immigration in this lawsuit, they cannot pay us out any damages,” he said, detailing the monetary losses had grown after failed visa applications and multiple flights from Australia, North America, and Europe.
“There’s also so much lost income here because there’s so much money on the line for the tournament as well as so many potential eyes on our organization, as well as all of the legal fees,” he said. “There’s so much money that went into this, all of which was just burned thanks to U.S. immigration fucking us. It was alarming to learn the U.S. government is not liable for any of the damages they were directly responsible for—that’s kinda crazy to me.”
Moist Esports’ Apex team ultimately made it to Canada to compete in the ALGS regular season, but after qualifying for playoffs in LA, the squad once again needed to apply for visas. In a last-ditch effort, MoistCr1TiKaL and Moist Esports cut ties with the roster and flew them to Lisbon, Portugal to undergo a B-1 business visa interview. This move was successful, with the team—now playing as “Not Moist”—putting in work on the main stage.
“We had to fly them from Canada to Lisbon to sit for the interview, they nailed the interview, they got their B-1 visas. We then had to fly them from Lisbon to the U.S.,” MoistCr1TiKaL said. Since then, the Australian-American squad has been their consistent selves, securing their position in the finals with an eighth-place finish in the upper bracket after a successful group stage. “U.S. immigration did everything possible to make it unwinnable and yet our team is defying fate.”
While legal proceedings are ongoing, Not Moist will look to wrap up their tumultuous ALGS Split One campaign in the grand finals kicking off on May 5 at 6pm CT.
