U.S. federal investigators have arrested 29-year-old Alabama resident Edward Lee Fleet. He is suspected of repeatedly threatening law enforcement officers in Fortnite voice chat. Epic Games has submitted the relevant audio recordings and login records to the FBI.
According to court documents cited in the report, the account in question discussed real-world violence during matches and threatened to open fire if police or FBI agents came to their door. Epic Games subsequently banned the account. The records submitted to the FBI included over 1,700 logins from Alabama.
Fortnite's voice reporting feature encrypts and stores the last five minutes of conversation on the player's device. After other participants submit a report, the relevant audio recordings can be handed over to moderators for review.
After verifying the audio recordings and obtaining an arrest warrant, investigators arrested Fleet approximately three days after the developer reported the incident. He has pleaded not guilty; the case is pending trial, and he faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison.