One of the biggest acts of espionage in EVE Online history just went down between CO2 and GSF. It all happened very quickly at around 02:00 BST on September 12, when a Circle of Two Keepstar-class Citadel changed ownership to a corporation outside of the alliance. Ownership then changed again to Goonswarm, the main corporation within the Imperium.
A Reddit thread recapping the complex mess of diplomacy and intrigue can be found here.
The Judge, who also sits on the Council of Stellar Management, a board of players who regularly speak with Eve developers CCP about the state of the game, admitted on a stream that he was responsible for the theft and that he had made off with over a 1.5 trillion ISK in in-game currency and assets – including a titan owned by GigX, the leader of Circle of Two.
The exact value of everything stolen isn’t yet clear but it looks like it’s the largest theft in Eve history, the next largest theft tops out at one trillion ISK.
In response to the theft, GigX sent threats to the Judge and tried to get his personal details to publish online. CCP responded by permanently banning his account: 
Shortly after the theft, Aryth messaged members, saying: “ARYTH AND THE JUDGE SEND THEIR REGARDS – PREPARE FOR A PR- STYLE HELLCAMP – HICTORS NEEDED ON DECK – VENGEANCE – VENGEAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”
Not all of the assets were transferred to The Imperium. The Judge also handed over the keys to Circle of Two’s Fortizar citadels to TEST Alliance, another enemy of GigX’s alliance.
This act comes after a months-long period of cold war and tensions in the galactic south of New Eden came to a head. Triumvirate has been fighting an offensive war against Legacy Coalition, DRF, and Phoenix Federation. In other words, the south is imploding. The original plan for CO2 was to join TRI in attacking Legacy, but it looks like CO2 will lucky if they don’t disappear entirely, so that plan is off the table.
TEST and the Imperium have reportedly settled on a one (1) week temporary truce to avoid friendly-fire incidents. The Hellcamp of 68FT-6 has begun.
In a statement on a stream GigX stated that Circle of Two will continue to fight. Multiple FCs and members of Circle of Two have sided with and continue to support GigX. Here is his full statement to the line membership:
To the members of CO2,
I’ve been a member in CO2 for 5 years. Half a decade. Even in EVE this is a long time. I started as a normal member in Redhogs, moved to Balkan Mafia as a Diplomat and eventually took over as Head Diplomat for CO2. The first few years in CO2 were marked with a few bumps, but overall it was amazing. We were growing and our leadership was upbeat and well manned.
This started to change after World War Bee. We lost a number of key members of leadership and most of what was left went inactive. I will admit, I started to become more and more consumed with CSM duties so I didn’t give as much attention to the alliance itself from that point on, but one reason was more impacting than any… gigX projected his hate of CCP and how they were developing the game onto me. After all, the CSM works with CCP which in most peoples minds makes us close enough to get as much hate as developers themselves.
After everything I’d dealt with over the last 18 months, what pushed over the edge? The breakdown of Legacy. I was in Iceland walking down a street with BRAVE leadership member Yukiko Kami when I got a ping from gigX with the now famous Doomchincilla leaks. Yukiko had no idea himself, but soon it was confirmed from his side just as it was mine. I was shocked that things could fall apart so spectacularly so quickly, and was frustrated that we (CO2) had taken this route. I had asked our leadership to calm down and not blow up our coalition. Both sides (TEST+complacent alliances / CO2) were at fault, taking blue status from people we each didn’t like and making moves without informing each other.
gigX has expressed his wish to disband CO2 for many months now, driving away good corps who found out like Totally Into Spaceships. What did these corps, who were loyal and simply lost faith in their leadership get in return? They were shit talked in private channels, undermined and even one was removed for wanting a meeting with gigX to boost their morale and understand what was happening. Good people treated badly. That is something I can’t keep turning a blind eye to. Aryth from Goonswarm offered me an out, and I’m taking it.
Why did I do it this way? Partly because of how much I’ve put into CO2 and wanting to leave with something to show for it. Partly because gigX needs to let CO2 die and move on with his life. Partly because some of these corps that have been removed deserve some of their effort back themselves. While I know people will hate me for this action purely because of the fanatical culture that exists in CO2, I want you to know that my aim was never to hurt the line member of CO2. Maybe one day we will fly together again, but it won’t be under the leadership of gigX.
-The Judge
As of now, The Judge openly admitted that he worked with GSF because he wanted a way out. He felt as though CO2 had taken over too much of his life and wanted to move on. Fair enough I guess.
