Sports integrity Archives

April 12, 2024

ITIA bans Spanish tennis player for 15 years over corruption

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has banned Spanish player Aaron Cortes for 15 years after he was found guilty of a series of corruption charges.

Cortes admitted to 35 breaches of the ITIA Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP). Charges relate to activity between 2016 and 2018.

Breaches include contriving the outcome of events, accepting money to impact outcomes of events and failing to report corrupt approaches. The ITIA also said Cortes wagered on tennis and provided money to tournament officials in exchange for a wild card.

The 29-year-old, who had a career-high world singles ranking of 955 in September 2017, co-operated fully with the ITIA investigation. He also accepted an agreed sanction and waived the right to a hearing before an independent anti-corruption hearing officer.

As a result, Cortes will be banned from 27 March 2024 until 26 March 2039. He has also been ordered to pay a $75,000 (£59,823/€70,039) fine, with $56,250 of this suspended.

During the b..

April 11, 2024

Kajuru to lead parliamentary inquiry on Brazil sports betting

Senator Jorge Kajuru has been chosen as the president of a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) on Sports Betting to investigate match-fixing accusations in Brazil sport.

Kajuru, a senator for the Brazilian state of Goiás, will be supported by Senator Eduardo Girão, who will serve as vice-president. Romário, a former footballer who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 before becoming a senator, will be rapporteur of the CPI.

The CPI will meet weekly and investigate complaints made by players, managers and betting companies. If it finds that games have been manipulated, the CPI will request the court system to ban from football the person responsible.

The CPI was first introduced in December. It will consist of 11 sitting senators, as well as seven substitutes.

“I’m sure that this CPI has some objectives and we will achieve them,” Romário said. “We know the problems that our football has experienced.

“Here are people who definitely want to set the record straight. They want to o..

April 3, 2024

Botafogo owner reported to Brazilian federal police over match-fixing claims

Senator Jorge Kajuru has requested Brazil's federal police to investigate John Textor, the owner of football club Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, after Textor made match-fixing allegations against the São Paulo and Palmeiras football teams.

Kajuru – a senator for the Brazilian state of Goiás – confirmed the report during a senate plenary meeting yesterday (2 April). He said he had outlined his concerns to the federal police in the form of a letter, which he encouraged others in the session to sign.

During the meeting Kajuru outlined Textor’s allegations. Textor had alleged that five players from the São Paulo football club had received bribes from Palmeiras in regards to the Brazilian Championship Series A game, where Palmeiras beat São Paulo 5-0. He also claimed to have evidence to support this.

Kajuru added that one month prior, Textor said he had a recording of a referee that had been collecting bribes.

Kajuru said that he had sent the claims to Andrei Rodrigues, director of..

March 5, 2024

LaLiga clamps down on “nefarious” betting behaviour with US Integrity link

LaLiga has announced a new partnership with sports wagering monitor US Integrity as it looks to cement its “preservation of integrity in sport”.

The deal will provide LaLiga with the services of ProhiBet, the prohibited betting solution launched in February 2023. ProhiBet is a joint venture between US Integrity and Odds On Compliance.

US Integrity offers wagering monitoring services to sporting stakeholders, analysing datasets to identify suspicious betting behaviour. Odds On Compliance, meanwhile, is a compliance technology and consultation firm in sports betting and gaming.

LaLiga will benefit from analytical insights that will aim to ensure Spain’s top two football leagues are played in a fair manner. Suspicious betting activity will be detected with “nefarious” behaviour acted upon thanks to monitoring alerts.

Javier Tebas, LaLiga’s president, said: “This partnership with US Integrity represents a significant milestone in our efforts to safeguard integrity and transparency in p..

March 5, 2024

AI roots out 73% of suspicious matches in Sportradar’s 2023 Integrity Report

Sportradar’s annual Integrity Report revealed it had detected 1,329 suspicious matches during 2023, with AI helping to uncover nearly three quarters of all questionable activity.

Sportradar monitored close to 850,000 events during 2023 – spanning 70 sports, with a total of 1,329 suspicious events occurring across 11 of those sports.

Despite the rise in the number of detections, the actual rate of suspected manipulation remained stable at 0.21% when taking Sportradar’s enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into account. The 1-in-467 manipulation rate was almost level with the 1-in-473 events total from 2022.

Overall, 99.5% of events had no suspicious betting take place, while no sport had a suspicious match ratio higher than 1%. Both of those statistics were the same as last year.

As per Sportradar’s expectations, football and basketball led the way for detections with 880 and 205 suspicious matches respectively. Table tennis was third with 70.

Sportradar’s integrity w..

January 22, 2024

ITIA suspends another player over Belgian tennis match-fixing case

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has suspended Tunisian player Anis Ghorbel for three years over corruption linked to the wider match-fixing case in Belgium.

Ghorbel was found guilty of four breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP). The ITIA said this warranted the suspension and a $20,000 (£15,743/€18,365) fine.

The suspension runs from the date of the decision (4 January) to 3 January 2027.

The offences relate to the fixing of matches in 2016 and 2017. Ghorbel, who has a career-high world singles ranking of 479 in 2016, denies all charges.

Specific breaches of the TACP include two related to section D.2.a.i – failure to report a corrupt approach. The ITIA also noted a single breach of section D.1.b, facilitating betting on the outcome of a match, and section D.1.d of contriving the outcome or aspect of a match.

The suspension means Ghorbel cannot play in, coach at or attend tennis events authorised by ITIA members or national associations.

Charges..

January 17, 2024

International cricketer banned for two years for anti-corruption breaches

Bangladesh cricketer Nasir Hossain has been banned by the ICC from all cricket for two years after breaching the Emirates Cricket Board’s Anti-Corruption Code.

Hossain, who last played for Bangladesh in 2018, accepted three charges of corruption breaches. One of those included Article 2.4.3, having failed to disclose the receipt of a gift worth over $750 (£591/€690), namely a new iPhone 12.

Hossain was one of eight players and officials linked with the Pune Devils franchise charged. The offences were in relation to attempts to corrupt Abu Dhabi T10 Cricket League matches in 2021. While the attempts were disrupted, the charges have still been brought forward.

With six months of his two-year ban suspended, Hossain will be eligible to play international cricket again in April 2025.

Pune Devils co-owners and staff also facing punishment

Along with Hossain, the ICC also flagged a number of Pune Devils coaching staff, as well as co-owners Krishan Kumar Chaudhary and Parag Sanghvi.

pune..

January 16, 2024

ITIA bans tennis official for 16 years over corruption charges

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has banned Bulgarian official Stefan Milanov for 16 years after he was found guilty of a series of corruption offences.

Milanov was charged with 17 breaches of the ITIA Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP). His ban will run from the date of the decision (28 December 2023) until 27 December 2039.

All charges are regarding five tennis matches that Milanov umpired in 2021.

Specific breaches identified by the ITIA include five related to Section D.1.b of the 2021 TACP. This covers directly or indirectly facilitating any other person to wager on the outcome or other aspect of an event.

Five breaches were also noted of Section D.1.m of the TACP – delaying or manipulating entry of scoring data from any event. A further five breaches related to Section D.1.n – directly or indirectly attempting, agreeing or conspiring to commit corruption offences.

The ITIA said the remaining two breaches regarded Section F.2.b of the 2023 TACP. This cov..

January 15, 2024

ITIA bans French tennis player for match fixing

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has banned French player Leny Mitjana for 10 years after finding him guilty of corruption and match-fixing offences.

Mitjana was ruled to have breached the ITIA Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP) 11 times. His ban from tennis runs until December 2033.

The Frenchman, who held a career-high world singles ranking of 458 in 2018, denied all the charges. All charges related to the fixing of matches and the offences took place in 2017 and 2018.

Mitjana was found in breach of sections D.1.b, D.1.d, D.1.e and D.2.a.i of the TACP. These include facilitating wagering, contriving the outcome of matches, influencing other players not to use their best efforts and failing to report corrupt approaches.

The ban is effective from the actual date of the decision (22 December 2023). This means Mitjana cannot play in, coach at or attend any professional tennis event until 21 December 2033.

This covers all events authorised or sanctioned by the me..

January 12, 2024

Sportradar and Asian Football Confederation renew integrity partnership

Sportradar has signed an extension to its long-term integrity partnership with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The renewed integrity deal runs from 2024 to 2027. This will take the partnership between Sportradar and the AFC, which began in 2013, to 14 years.

Sportradar will continue to work with the AFC on a wide range of integrity matters. This will include a joint effort to tackle issues, such as match-fixing, in Asian football.

In addition, Sportradar said it will utilise new technologies to further improve integrity in Asian football. This will include artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The renewal was agreed last night (11 January), in the eve of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.

AFC hails “strategic” evolution of Sportradar relationship

The AFC president, Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, welcomed the extended deal. He said the partnership has already helped clamp down on match-fixing in football across Asia.

“For the past 10 years, Sportradar has be..

January 4, 2024

ITIA bans four more tennis officials over corruption charges

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has handed lengthy bans to four officials after they were found guilty of a series of corruption offences.

Bans were issued to Edvinas Grigaitis, Givi Khudoiani and Arsen Movsisyan after being sanctioned by an independent anti-corruption hearing officer. The ITIA also said Manuel Sperger was also banned after being convicted of tennis match-fixing activity in an Austrian criminal court.

Breaking down the bans, Sperger an Austrian, a national-level official, will serve a seven-and-a-half-year ban. This is effective from 18 December 2023 until 17 June 2031. He will also pay a fine of $25,000 (£19,708/€22,860), with $18,750 suspended

Sperger was the subject of match-fixing-related proceedings in a criminal court in Austria. He admitted to manipulating scores in 2016 and 2017 for betting purposes.

The ITIA charged Sperger with 12 offences under its Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP). These included manipulating the entry of scoring ..

November 27, 2023

Brazil Football Confederation appoints Gussem to oversee integrity

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has appointed Eduardo Gussem, former attorney-general of Rio de Janeiro, as its integrity officer as part of an effort to clamp down on manipulation in the sport.

Gussem will now work with a multidisciplinary team and focus on strengthening integrity functions across football in Brazil. This includes overseeing a new integrity unit within the CBF.

He will also work with partners to help identify and punish criminals in Brazil. These include the International Centre for Sports Security, Global Alliance for Sports Integrity and a private investigative task force.

Gussem joins having previously been attorney-general of justice and president of the Public Ministry Association in Rio de Janeiro.

CBF: Online sports betting increases risk of football manipulation

CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues said the rising popularity of sports betting has increased the risk of manipulation in football. He added that this is particularly an issue within the ..

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Tag: Sports integrity