Not a dataminer, one of Epic's own was the leaker.
Epic Games has reached a proposed settlement with Hayden Cohen, the former contractor it accused of operating the prolific Fortnite leak account AdiraFN. The agreement, filed on July 4 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, centres entirely on a permanent injunction that bars Cohen from "possessing, accessing, using, or disclosing any of Epic's confidential or trade secret information," or helping anyone else do so.
An Insider, Not a Datamine
What made this case more serious than the typical Fortnite leak is that Cohen wasn't sifting through public game files or making educated guesses. He worked for Epic as an associate producer, signed a standard NDA in September 2025, and then, according to the company's March complaint, "repeatedly misappropriated Epic's trade secret information and broadcasted it publicly through his anonymous social media accounts on X and Discord." Epic was pointed about this distinction, stressing that the details Cohen shared could not have been obtained through datamining and were accessible to him only because of his internal role. That's the line that turned a hobby into a lawsuit, the shift from speculation to confirmed disclosure by someone with genuine insider access.
The volume was considerable. Under the AdiraFN alias, Cohen revealed more than a dozen unannounced collaborations before Epic could reveal them, including tie-ins with Minecraft, South Park, Overwatch, Ben 10, Game of Thrones, Kingdom Hearts, Solo Leveling, Marvel Rivals, and K-Pop Demon Hunters. Epic argued the leaks reached thousands of followers directly and millions more through amplification, forced internal investigations, burned staff time, and strained relationships with the IP partners whose surprises had been spoiled. Some of those collaborations, notably Kingdom Hearts, still hadn't appeared in the game at the time of filing, meaning the damage extended to hype Epic was still trying to build. The company put Cohen's motive down to chasing clout.
The Missing Money Is the Real Headline
The settlement contains no monetary penalty at all, despite the original complaint seeking compensatory damages, unjust enrichment, legal fees, and the destruction of any confidential material Cohen still held. Epic Games asked for a spokesperson to say only that it had "nothing further to share" on the topic of compensation. That silence is loud, because Epic has a well-documented track record of chasing money and winning it, having once left a Fortnite cheater on the hook for $175,000 after he'd pocketed just $6,850 in tournament prizes. So walking away without a dollar figure attached reads as a deliberate strategic choice rather than a concession forced on the company.
The logic likely comes down to what Epic actually wanted out of this, which was silence rather than a payout. An injunction carries real teeth precisely because any future violation stops being a fresh civil suit and becomes a contempt-of-court matter, a far faster and heavier consequence. In practical terms, Epic has traded the uncertain, drawn-out fight over damages for an ironclad, permanent leash, and for a company whose priority is protecting its steady pipeline of partner reveals, that trade makes sense. Cohen, for his part, avoids a trial and a potential financial ruin, but surrenders any future proximity to the kind of information that made AdiraFN notable in the first place. Epic spokesperson Natalie Munoz framed the outcome plainly, saying the company acted against a contractor who "repeatedly leaked confidential partner IP and trade secrets," and had "asked the court to approve the stipulated injunction to ensure they cannot publish or share Epic's confidential information again." It's a resolution that gets Epic the one thing it couldn't guarantee in a courtroom brawl over cash: certainty that the leaks stop for good.
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