1) I don't own any cheats. 2) I played at 3 different LAN centers in California during the course of mid-to-late 2019 and early 2020 since I did not have my PC gaming rig at my new house that I live at. The only scenario to explain the VAC ban is the presence of cheats on any one of these PCs I previously logged into. Note: I played FACEIT and ESEA as well as matchmaking in CSGO and was never banned during my 9 month period after returning from a 3 year hiatus. In the time that I did play, I dabbled with playing CEVO/ESEA Invite with Exertus, RGN, Stratos, and other teams as a ringer.
Never cheated, never will.
I have an open ticket with Valve and they are currently investigating. What is complicating the investigation is the countless, multiple IPs that are linked to my account.
Reason why I didn't have a PC gaming rig: I moved to Virginia for Intelligence school at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, then moved back to San Diego; then moved to Silicon Valley to work at Apple, then now at another top tech company. All of this considering the fact that I travel every month for work as I am also in the military. Gaming was not a priority until I felt 'settled in.' The bandaid, so to speak, at the time, was to play at a LAN center (which was 1 mile from my house). When this shelter-in-place happened, I just bought a new PC.
Oh well. Thanks for reading.