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At least two people in GameStop’s warehouse have allegedly contracted the coronavirus, while GameStop has allegedly been making their own hand sanitizer that consists only of rubbing alcohol.
Across our editorial series covering the work of GameStop whistleblower Camelot [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] he, alleged former, and alleged existing GameStop staff accused company of numerous illegal, fraudulent, and immoral offenses at both store and corporate level.
Based on information Camelot received, along with his own experiences, he felt GameStop would soon enter bankruptcy. He also proposed there was a “three stage plan” by corporate leaders.
This would involve doing whatever it took to increase the stock value of the company in the short-term (including closing stores and firing staff) before liquidating the company or filing for bankruptcy.
Camelot also recently posted claims by alleged staff that GameStop had lied about sending out hand sanitizer, and were attempting to abuse legal loopholes to remain open during the pandemic. This was via registering the company as an electrical company, making it “essential”.
An alleged corporate source also claimed that if GameStop closes “even for a week or two. They will have to file for Chapter 11 [bankruptcy]. So they are refusing.”
The claims were supported by a recently alleged leaked memo, which instructed store staff to hand a letter to police attempting to close stores, which in turn asked police to call GameStop’s corporate office. Alleged corporate GameStop staff claimed to Camelot that GameStop would sue anyone attempting to close them down.
GameStop also announced they would sell Doom Eternal one day early, in order to avoid spreading the virus, but keeping the release date of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Shortly after the alleged leaked memo, Camelot produced audio from an alleged conference call between executives of EB Games Canada (a subsidiary of GameStop) and store managers. Along with confirming they would keep stores open, they stated they would not pay employees if they chose to self-isolate, and that they were not liable if anyone got sick coming into their stores.
While they stated they would clean stores should an employee get sick, Camelot doubted this would occur, and that the store would remain open. A store manager also pointed out in the conference call that the company was being condemned on social media when they were announcing they would remain open.
Soon after, GameStop were revealed to be closing their stores in California– though not paying their staff during this time- and eventually closing all their stores across the United States, and utilizing curb-side pick-up on orders. On April 3rd, Camelot received more claims of GameStop remaining open using legal loopholes yet again to be deemed essential.
Now, Camelot’s latest video contains claims from alleged employees of GameStop’s Refurbishment Operations Center (ROC) in Grapevine, Texas.
The first message claims a first shift associate at the ROC had contracted the coronavirus. The employee had allegedly not taken any time off, as they would not have been paid.
Senior staff allegedly made all first shift employees work- without telling them one of their collegues had contracted the virus.
This continued four hours into the second shift, when they told employees to go home, so the warehouse could be cleaned as a preventative measure.
The warehouse was allegedly planned to close for all of April 1st or half a day (with conflicting claims from the one source). However, it allegedly was only closed for the duration of the first shift, before the second shift came in to work.
The source also claims that “security agents said they were reviewing footage so they could see where that associate went during the past 2 weeks so the cleaners could spot clean what he touched. That is all GameStop planned on cleaning.”
The employee in question was “all over the warehouse”, and was involved with the Distribution Center. That was also closed to sanitize products he had touched there as well.
None of this was allegedly told to staff (the source claiming they learned of it through friends), and GameStop sent out the following message.
For non-English readers using translation, the above image reads.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain a clean and healthy work environment, we will be conducting a thorough cleaning of all three buildings in Grapevine, including the ROC, DC/SSC and CBI. The first of these cleanings will be on Wednesday, April 1 and while all three buildings will be closed that day, the ROC will run one swing shift later in the afternoon following the cleaning process. We will repeat this cleaning process every two weeks until further notice, These buildings will reopen on Thursday, April 2 for normal business hours. Please note that during this time NO associates will be allowed in these buildings.”
In addition, the source claims that the ROC is open, is due to them making hand sanitizer. This would explain how in prior article, ROC employees had been deemed essential.
This is also allegedly true for the refurbishment center, allowing it to remain open. In our GameStop editorial series, GameStop were allegedly hyper-focused on tech-trades, to sell resell phones overseas for a larger cost. Sources claimed to Camelot that GameStop were highly dependent on the profit these generated.
The source also claims that the hand sanitizer is merely “alcohol in little bottles” with GameStop’s logo on it. “I’m sure it’ll get donated but they are probably using 90% alcohol from the drums we used to have to supply the whole warehouse.”
Camelot points out that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 20th stated the following in a press release.
“The second guidance, Policy for Temporary Compounding of Certain Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer Products During the Public Health Emergency, is in effect for the temporary compounding of certain alcohol-based hand sanitizers by pharmacists in state-licensed pharmacies or federal facilities and registered outsourcing facilities. Compounding is generally a practice in which a licensed pharmacist, a licensed physician, or, in the case of an outsourcing facility, a person under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist, combines, mixes, or alters ingredients of a drug to create a tailor-made medication. The temporary policy outlined by the agency does not require compounders to obtain a patient-specific prescription.”
Camelot doubts that GameStop have a licenced pharmacist or physician overseeing the production of the hand sanitizer.
Another source also claimed that an employee of the ROC had contracted the coronavirus. They also made similar claims of the facility being closed to clean. One supervisor allegedly confirmed to them that an employee had caught the coronavirus.
This source claims that once they returned to work, more people caught the coronavirus.
“So after that. We kept on working as usual. Then 4 more people got sick. Including 1 of my good friends. With COVID. All from working in these conditions. So now everyone is scared. We are not allowed to call out buy they are saying we will eventually get more PTO time. Which I doubt.
The most screw up thing we are doing right now. Is we are making OUR OWN HAND SANITIZER. I have been making it. It is just rubbing alcohol that we already had in large vats. That is it. Pure alcohol. Which I can guarantee is not FDA approved. We are sending them to all our stores in an effort to meet the governments guidelines to stay open. It is all a scam just to stay open.
We have people quitting constantly because they are afraid to work because people are dropping like flies to COVID here. But we are “essential” because of online sales. They tell us to practice social distancing but 1400+ associates go through 2 metal detectors. 2! We also work 2 feet from each other. It is a time bomb.”
Camelot points out that large quantities of rubbing alcohol (as opposed to hand sanitizers with a lower alcohol content) can be damaging, and even toxic, when used in excess.
Another source (from what appears to be a store) sent Camelot a photo and a video of the hand sanitizer in question (8:47, 9:18, 10:19). The hand sanitizers come in pairs within a see-through bag, with a GameStop logo at the top.
Along with appearing quickly and cheaply made, when we briefly get a glimpse of the back of the bottle, it appears the contents are “Alcohol min 70” (in a unit of measurement we cannot see), water, and gylcerin.
When poured out onto the table in the video, it has a consistency akin to water (rather than a gel) further supporting the claim it is just rubbing alcohol. Camelot also claims the bags are also typically used for shipping used controllers.
The source in the video also claims it is “just rubbing alcohol” based on its consistency and smell. If the employee is not part of ROC staff, this even further adds weight to the claim it is only rubbing alcohol.
Some commenters in Camelot’s video also claim even the way the product is shipped is wrong- with the box lacking any warning label for the shipped product being flammable, along with having a “pop-off cap”. Others beg for the authorities in Texas to be contacted.
Camelot’s “corporate contact” (an alleged source from within GameStop’s corporate offices) claims that GameStop are intending to sell the hand sanitizer “overseas” once the coronavirus pandemic is over.
Camelot proposes that not only would it be illegal for GameStop to sell non-FDA approved hand sanitizer- internationally or otherwise- but that selling it overseas is specifically to avoid getting caught.
