Natus Vincere (NAVI) in-game leader Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen has been convicted of aggravated tax fraud by a Finnish court and given a four-month suspended prison sentence.
According to Ilta-Sanomat's report on the ruling, the Eastern Uusimaa District Court found that the 29-year-old failed to declare €53,227.90 of income in 2019. As a result, his income tax for that year was €28,196.40 too low. His probation period runs until October 26th 2028.
The ruling is not final. Virolainen can appeal until November 26th, and Iltalehti reported that any appeal would go to the Helsinki Court of Appeal.
Sticker money from Valve
The undeclared income came from game company Valve Corporation, and Virolainen told the court it was money earned from Counter-Strike's virtual stickers. Teams and players at Counter-Strike Majors get their own in-game stickers and receive a share of the sales. HLTV reported that the 2019 payments stemmed from his appearances at the IEM Katowice and StarLadder Berlin Majors.
Virolainen denied the charge. He said he had believed the taxes on the sticker money, which was paid to him in several instalments, had already been taken care of, as with the salary his team paid him at the time. An accounting firm had handled his taxes before, and according to Iltalehti, he told the court his only work experience before going pro was a short stint as a removal man. He said he paid the missing taxes in full as soon as the Finnish Tax Administration contacted him about it.
The court did not accept his explanation. It noted that the missing income made up around a third of his total income for 2019 and found it unlikely he had missed it on his pre-filled tax return, especially as he had said he usually checked the return. "The tax fraud sought considerable financial gain. Taken as a whole, the tax fraud is also aggravated," the ruling said, in a passage quoted by Ilta-Sanomat. When setting the sentence, the court took into account that he had no prior criminal record and had since paid the taxes.
Aleksib and NAVI
NAVI had not commented publicly on the ruling at the time of writing, and HLTV said it had contacted Virolainen without success. The team was in action at PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 on the day of the verdict, where a loss to Team Vitality dropped it into the 2-2 pool, according to NAVI's X (formerly Twitter) account.
Virolainen joined NAVI on June 30th 2023. According to the organisation's announcement at the time, he made his name with ENCE, winning StarSeries & i-League Season 6 and BLAST Pro Series Madrid 2019 and leading the team to the IEM Katowice Major 2019 Grand Final. He later played for OG, G2 Esports and Ninjas in Pyjamas. In spring 2024, he became the first Finn to win a Counter-Strike Major, and he was nominated for Athlete of the Year at Finland's Sports Gala in 2025.
