The Prosecutor’s Office reduced the requested sentences to fourteen defendants who are part of the tennis match-fixing network.to bet on them with false identities, during the hearing held this Wednesday in National Court, where everyone acknowledged the facts.
After their entry, The Prosecutor’s Office requested three months imprisonment for those involved in the crime belonging to a criminal group and one year and nine months for sporting corruption and continuing crime of fraud, in addition to a 5-month fine, with a daily fee of 3 euros.
It also demands that 50% of the amounts of cash seized be confiscated in the records of the homes of the defendants, whose defenses complied with the qualification of the facts of the Prosecutor’s Office, which initially requested sentences of 2 and 6 years.
The plot, led by tennis player Marc Fornellwas abolished by the Civil Guard at the end of October 2018, in collaboration with EUROPOL and the Directorate General for Gambling Regulation of the Ministry of Finance.
The investigation was initiated by a complaint from those responsible for the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) -international anti-corruption organization responsible for ensuring the integrity of tennis and present at trial as a private prosecution- and closed a year later.
Judge Jose de la Mata noticed sufficient indications of criminal organization crimes, corruption between individualsfraud, marital status and money laundering.
The defendants, who include two Armenian citizens, are being considered members of a criminal organization engaged in altering the results of battles to bet on them with false identification and the judge estimated that, by this method, fourteen of them had achieved a prohibited profit which in total exceeded 3.6 million euros.
According to the investigation, it was confirmed the existence of two groups of investigators engaged in taking illicit profit with bets made on gaming operating companies. or sports betting houses, associated with tennis matches and other sporting events disputed by some of them, as well as by other tennis players who, in exchange for paying an amount of money, manipulate the parts and final results of battles.
In addition to the tennis players, two people of Armenian nationality participated in the organization who, according to investigators, went into battles to verify that the agreed results were made and the bets were also made.
Source: La Verdad
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