Epic has won a legal lawsuit against a Fortnite player who consistently cheated in competitive tournaments and now owes the company $175,000 after ignoring a lawsuit filed last year. The culprit in question, Sebastian Araujo, had won more than $6,800 after participating in 839 cash tournaments within just four months, while using a direct memory access device to get around anti-cheat measures.
However, even after being busted, Araujo, instead of coming clean, created at least three fake accounts between June and October 2024 to avoid being caught, which led to Epic filing a legal lawsuit. Today, the company says, “The Judge ruled in our favor after the cheater ignored our lawsuit. The player is required to pay $175,000, and we’ll donate what we collect to charity. They are also banned from playing Fortnite forever.”
THIS JUST IN: The Judge ruled in our favor after the cheater ignored our lawsuit. The player is required to pay $175,000 and we’ll donate what we collect to charity. They are also banned from playing Fortnite forever. https://t.co/on0dYWBdq4June 25, 2025
How has Epic landed on such a figure?
According to the ruling information, Epic secured a default judgment of $168,550 for DMCA and Copyright Act violations, along with another $6,971 in attorneys' fees. The reason the player’s fine is 25 times higher than their total winnings is that the developer demanded the statutory minimum of $200 for each violation of the game’s copyright across all 839 tournaments Araujo participated in.
Court documentation shared with IGN reads, “While the Court notes the amount sought by Plaintiff exceedingly surpasses Defendant's alleged actual gain, $6,850, Defendant took significant measures to conceal the true scope of his cheating activities by creating multiple fake accounts and employing a hardware spoofer to circumvent detections.”
It wasn’t a total win for the battle royale maker either, as their request for another $100,000 in statutory damages for copyright infringement was found to be “excessive” compared to Araujo’s actual stolen gains. That being said, Epic plans to donate the money Araujo must now pay to Child’s Play, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing access to toys and games.
Not the first time Epic has made an example out of a cheater
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Epic has gone all-in on a tournament cheater. Back in February 2025, the Fortnite makers not only banned Morgan “Repulse God” from participating in Fortnite tournaments for good and required them to return their ill-gotten gains, but also compelled them to publish a public apology on their YouTube channel, acknowledging their actions and promising never to repeat them.
From both of these cases, it’s clear that Epic takes this sort of thing seriously, and its efforts to “ramp up legal action against both players who cheat and cheat sellers”, as part of its push to bolster competitive integrity in tournaments, are definitely underway.
