EVE Online CSM Delegate Resigns After Insider Trading

CCP Games and their Council of Stellar Management, which is comprised of EVE OnlineEve Online reviews players, announced today that delegate Adam Ridgway aka Larkonis Trassler steps down from his position due to using confedential information to commit insider trading in the world of EVE Online.

Statement from the CSM

Greetings players,

It has come to the attention of our council that one of our councilmen has breached the trust that CCP and the Council has put in him. Acting on his own, he utilized confidential information that CCP shared with us in violation of the Nondisclosure Agreement he signed by attempting to engage insider trading. CCP, who is monitoring us closely, almost instantly discovered his actions and has banned his accounts. The councilmember has since resigned his seat on the council.

The rest of the Council condemns his actions and would like to express our sincere apologies to the players for this breach of trust. We understand that each one of us is held to the utmost standards of loyalty to the players and developers of EVE. We are here to represent and fight for the player base before we even think about our own interests. We cannot and will not tolerate such conduct within our ranks.

With regards,

The Council of Stellar Management

According to CCP Games, Ridgway bought and traded items for 5 billion ISK in order to profit from a pending game change that was not yet finalized or details made public. Adam Ridgway also published a statement on the EVE Online website:

Statement from the retiring CSM member

The saying ‘Internets Spaceships are serious business’ is thrown around a lot when referring to Eve. Conflicts in game have spilled over to real life, friendships are formed and enemies are made. The Council of Stellar Management is perhaps the pinnacle of seriousness in this internets spaceship game. A political body made up of players from the game, elected by their peers. Ordinary people, some perhaps slightly more nerdy than the average man on the street, with a passion for the game and their own play styles.

Unfortunately no political body is ever going to be without scandal and a bit of bad press. While attending the CSM summit I acted on some information which was revealed for personal profit and, of course, was caught. Before attending the thought of using any information gained to aid my position in game never crossed my mind. However, we are all human and when presented with this information the urge to act on it was too great.

CCP have invested a huge amount of time, effort, money and most importantly trust into the CSM. My actions in some way have undermined that which is why I have no choice but to resign from the CSM. It is a voluntary act and not a case of jumping before being pushed and I will be allowed to run for another term in the future if I so desire. I apologise to those who voted for me and those who relied on me to give them a voice in a council which is viewed by many to be controlled by the power blocs (not the case).

I have had a tremendous time on the CSM. Rest assured that the issues that are voted for and pushed forward to Iceland are looked at and taken into consideration by CCP if technically feasible. The Dev team do not pay lip service to the CSM and are genuinely receptive to any ideas and suggestions made. I will make this plea to anyone considering running for CSM. Things may or may not be revealed to you about future developments which could be used to your advantage. If there is any doubt in your mind that you will be unable to suppress the urge to act on this information then don’t run.

Adam Ridgway, aka. Larkonis Trassler.

To read CCP Games’ statement, visit the official website.