Finnish court convicts NAVI's Aleksib of aggravated tax fraud, hands down four-month suspended sentence

A Finnish court has convicted NAVI in-game leader Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen of aggravated tax fraud. The Eastern Uusimaa District Court issued the ruling today, Oct. 27.

The sentence is four months of suspended imprisonment. Virolainen, 29, serves no jail time as long as he stays within the conditions of a probation period that runs until Oct. 26, 2028.

The ruling is not final. He can appeal until Nov. 26, and any appeal would go to the Helsinki Court of Appeal.

The money at issue

The case centers on payments from Valve Corporation tied to Counter-Strike Major sticker sales. Players and teams get a share of revenue from stickers sold in their name.

Virolainen played two Majors with ENCE in 2019, IEM Katowice and StarLadder Berlin. The court found he failed to declare €53,227.90 of that income on his 2019 return. His income tax for the year came out €28,196.40 too low.

The offense window in the charge runs from May 19 to Sept. 22, 2020, the period when the 2019 return was handled.

The court noted the missing income made up about a third of his total income for 2019.

What the court said

The court found the omission was intentional and aimed at financial gain. "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.

Judges also found it implausible that Virolainen missed the gap on his pre-filled tax return. He had told the court he usually checked that return. The court also rejected the idea that his age at the time, 22, excused the oversight.

Prosecutors had asked for the same four-month suspended sentence at an October hearing. The court gave them exactly that.

The defense

Virolainen admitted the sticker income was missing from his filing. He denied he tried to dodge taxes.

He told the court he believed the taxes on the sticker money, paid to him in several instalments, were already handled, the same way they were on the salary his team paid him. An accounting firm had done his taxes before, and he said his only work experience before going pro was a short stint as a removal man.

He said he paid the missing taxes in full once the Finnish Tax Administration contacted him. The court did not accept his account of what he understood, but it did count the repayment and his clean record when setting the sentence. He had no prior criminal record.

Career fallout still unknown

A conviction goes on a permanent criminal record. HLTV reported that could complicate visa applications and travel to international tournaments. Dust2.us noted that Virolainen has already traveled to eleven countries this year for NAVI, and that the United States in particular has a demanding process for applicants with criminal records.

No one has said whether the verdict will actually block him from competing abroad. NAVI has not commented publicly on the ruling, and HLTV said its attempts to reach Virolainen went unanswered.

The timing is awkward. NAVI was playing at PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 on the day of the verdict, where a loss to Team Vitality dropped the team into the 2-2 pool, according to NAVI's X account. The team is also chasing VRS points in the race for the PGL Singapore Major 2026.

Virolainen joined NAVI on June 30, 2023. 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.

The standard applies to everyone

Tax law doesn't carve out an exception for 22-year-olds with sudden income, or for players who assume someone else has it covered. Earnings from a game publisher are taxable income like any other, and the filer is responsible for reporting them.

The court also did not hand down the harshest outcome. Virolainen repaid the money, had no record, and gets no prison time unless he breaks probation.

The appeal is the next step. If Virolainen files by Nov. 26, the Helsinki Court of Appeal will decide whether the lower court was right that he knew the income was missing. Until then, the verdict is not final.