Riot Games wins $10 million in LeagueSharp suit

Riot Games has been awarded $10 million in its lawsuit against LeagueSharp, a service that allowed its paying customers to rapidly advance through League of Legends using scripts and hacks.

In addition to the $10 million settlement, U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lee also banned LeagueSharp from Riot's products and gave it control of all LeagueSharp websites. As we reported in August 2016, when the suit was initially filed, LeagueSharp was charging between $15 and $50 a month for a service that Riot described as, "dedicated to destroying the LoL player experience, harming the LoL community, and subverting Riot's game (and its community) for its own profit."

LeagueSharp posted a message to its community in the aftermath of the verdict, in a month long period the court allowed for it to wind down. The message has now been deleted, but ClickOn eSports reproduced it in full:

"As some of you may know, Riot Games has filed a lawsuit against LeagueSharp and has made it clear to us that LeagueSharp violates their Terms of Use.

"As a result of our lawsuit with Riot, we have agreed to cease development and support for LeagueSharp and any other tools related to Riot Games. You also should be aware that using third-party tools in League of Legends may result in the suspension or banning of your account by Riot Games. We apologize for any pain we've caused to players of League of Legends."

LeagueSharp was started by Matthias "Jodusmame" Oltmann, Stefan "0hm" Delgato, and Tyrone Tom "Beaving" Pauer, all of whom live in Germany.

Riot's complaint alleged that the "defendants have been quickly and carefully destroying or concealing evidence" based on the knowledge that the lawsuit was imminent. It also said that they had created a, "Peruvian shell corporation...solely for the purpose of evading liability." Riot estimated that LeagueSharp's community included, "tens of thousands of paying subscribers bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars each month to the hackers."