Nearly one year after acquiring Complexity's Counter-Strike roster, Ukrainian organization Passion UA is allegedly drowning in unpaid debts totaling somewhere between $500,000 and $600,000 to its former players, primarily from sticker revenue.
The financial troubles reportedly started surfacing before the StarLadder Budapest Major, with delayed salary payments becoming a recurring problem. The organization made numerous roster changes during this period while failing to complete player buyout payments to other teams.
When Passion UA decided to transfer Michael "Grim" Wince to NRG—one of the players they had picked up from Complexity just six months prior—Complexity was prepared to block the move entirely. The reason? Passion UA still hadn't paid the full transfer fee for the original roster acquisition. This forced NRG to step in and cover part of the outstanding payment to Complexity themselves.
The Grim situation wasn't an isolated incident. Passion UA similarly failed to fully compensate Imperial for Argentine AWPer Santino "try" Rigal's transfer.
In June, founder and former owner Oleksandr Zinchenko reportedly severed connections with the organization while simultaneously downplaying his involvement. This came as a surprise, considering Zinchenko had been the public face of Passion UA, with players having direct communication access to both him and CEO Artemijs Rjabovs for problem-solving.
Zinchenko later claimed his role was purely ceremonial, stating he was merely a media partner who lent his image rights to the project. The relationship between Zinchenko and CEO Rjabovs has also come under scrutiny. Rjabovs allegedly told the team that Valve hadn't paid their Budapest sticker money, causing the payment delays.
One anonymous source grimly assessed the situation: "I think we've all pretty much made peace with the fact that the odds of us seeing any of the money are close to zero."
