Hades, the former GodLike Esports figure who was accused last December of collecting money from people in the Indian gaming community and failing to repay it, has now admitted on X that he is “guilty”. His response came on 5 November, only hours after the community page letsgrowesports claimed that he had been working behind the scenes at Team Apex Gaming since Jonathan founded the organisation. Hades denied being formally part of TAG, but he also confirmed that he has already worked on “few projects” with it.
The row began on the night of 4 November, during Jonathan’s 8 Million Special stream on YouTube. Several guests at the Halloween-themed celebration wore masks, and community pages claimed that one masked guest who never revealed his face was Hades, pointing to a tattoo on his hand that stayed visible on camera. Hades has not said directly whether he was that guest, although his replies the next morning confirmed that he has been working with TAG in some capacity.
What Hades said about TAG and the money
Hades’s first move was to go after letsgrowesports itself, questioning the page’s motives and challenging its admin to a one-on-one podcast. Soon afterwards, he turned to the question most fans were asking. “Regarding my role in TAG or anything around it, don’t make any assumptions,” he wrote, before adding that he is “not part of them yet” and is “just seeing if things will work out or no”. In the same post, he said he had “done few projects with them already”, without explaining what those projects involved.
On the money itself, Hades did not deny borrowing it. Replying to a fan, he said he had borrowed money, asked for more time and was unable to pay on time, before moving to a new country and working there to clear “few people”. “I’m not saying I’m victim here, I’m guilty but the numbers and facts people share is fake,” he added, while insisting that it is “not a scam if you return it”.
A little later, he posted what he presented as his final word on the matter. “Just ending it here, I’m guilty and I have accepted it before as well,” Hades wrote, adding that he knows it is “very hard to trust someone like me again”. That, he said, is why he is “working behind the scenes”, and why he believes “it’s gonna be worth it”.
How the allegations first surfaced in December
The community page letsgrowesports first went public with the claims on 18 December 2025, when it described Hades as the esports head of GodLike Esports. Citing unnamed sources, it alleged that money had been collected from several people over six months on the grounds of medical emergencies and other personal issues. According to the same sources, advances were also taken from community members, and even an advance salary from GodLike. The page put the total at ₹50 to 60 lakh and said a case had been filed, although neither claim has been officially confirmed, and Hades now says the numbers being shared are fake.
GodLike distanced itself from the matter on the same day. In a statement that letsgrowesports attributed to GodLike’s Amar, the organisation said Hades had taken an indefinite break around six months earlier because of a serious family medical emergency. It said it had offered medical help but had no knowledge of or involvement in his personal financial dealings. It added that any personal loans made “under claims of repayment via GodLike were not authorized by us”, and that attempts to reach him over the previous three months had gone unanswered.
In March, the page posted a follow-up claiming that Hades had started contacting friends but had still not paid the dues. Jonathan launched Team Apex Gaming on 12 April after leaving GodLike, and letsgrowesports now claims that work on the organisation had been going on behind the scenes since January or February. The page has also argued that the controversy reflects on Jonathan himself, because TAG’s entire identity is built around him.
That matters for TAG, which has grown quickly on the strength of its founder’s name. Red Bull India signed a partnership with the organisation on 19 October, and letsgrowesports has argued that brand deals should prompt basic questions about the people behind the team. Neither TAG nor Jonathan had addressed the claims publicly at the time of writing.
