Europol assists Spain’s Guardia Civil making 83 arrests in connection with organised corruption of professional tennis matches and tournaments.

According to Europol, Spain’s Guardia Civil has made 83 arrests in connection with an organised criminal syndicate involved with manipulating professional tennis competitions.

A staggering 28 professional tennis players are being investigated, with at least one having played at the last US Open Grand Slam tournament, though they have not been named yet. The investigation began in 2017 after the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) identified irregular wagering activities on matches at the ‘ITF Futures and Challenger’ level competitions.

Using bribes to make professional players fix matches, the syndicate would then organise thousands of individuals to place bets on the fixed matches.

According to Europol:

“A criminal group of Armenian individuals used a professional tennis player, who acted as the link between the gang and the rest of the criminal group. Once they bribed the players, the Armenian network members attended the matches to ensure that the tennis players complied with what was previously agreed, and gave orders to other members of the group to go ahead with the bets placed at national and international level.”

So far 11 houses have been searched in Spain, resulting in €167,000 in cash, a shotgun, more than 50 electronic devices, credit cards, five luxury vehicles and documentation being seized. 42 bank accounts have also been frozen.

During the investigation, Europol has aided Spanish law enforcement with analytical support and on the day of the raids three experts were deployed to Spain to provide expertise on the ground, including real-time cross-checks, IT forensic support and data analysis.

The police action in Spain comes just three weeks after AYO.NEWS reported about recommendations from the Independent Review Panel regarding corruption in tennis (see TENNIS: BAN ON BETTING SPONSORSHIP PLUS DATA RESTRICTIONS?).