Eleven police raids part of investigation into tennis match-fixing

THE Spanish Civil Guard has made widespread arrests following an investigation into tennis match-fixing by an organised Armenian criminal gang, Europol said yesterday.

Eleven house searches were carried out in Spain and €167,000 in cash was seized, along with a shotgun, more than 50 electronic devices, credit cards, five luxury vehicles and documentation. Forty-two bank accounts have been frozen.

The Civil Guard said in a statement 15 people had been arrested, including the leaders of the criminal organisation, while a further 68 people have been investigated.

Of the 83 people implicated in the case, 28 were professional tennis players, playing in the ITF Futures and Challenger categories, and one who competed in the 2018 US Open.

“Our officers have proved the group had been operating since February 2017 and estimate that they had earned millions of euro through the operation,” added the Civil Guard’s statement.

News of the arrests came a day after the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) revealed that in 2018 more tennis players were disciplined for violations of anti-corruption rules than in any other year.

Twenty-one individuals broke anti-corruption rules with the majority sanctioned for match-fixing or betting offences, while eight lifetime bans were imposed, most notably to Italian former world number 49 Daniele Bracciali for match-fixing and facilitating betting.

An independent review panel said there were around 14,000 notional professional players in 2018 but that only about 600 earned enough money to cover the annual cost of competing.