They participated in third party CS tournaments. Source: purest
https://esportsadvocate.net/2024/06/eflare-and-the-missing-100k-prize-pool/
The article talks about a cs tournament in which the ceo of bleed was involved and in which prizepools have not yet been paid apparently and also mentions that members of the bleed valorant team participated in the tournament without riot's permission in order to enter third party tournaments outside the vct ecosystem