INVESTIGATIONS
Belgium
Did Belgium’s 3x3 basketball team commit fraud to qualify for the Olympics?
Basketball Belgium, the Belgian basketball association and the international basketball federation are conducting an investigation into possible fraud involving the organisation of three-on-three basketball tournaments. The investigations have been launched following allegations of fraud involving the Belgian 3x3 Lions, who shone at the Tokyo Olympics.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has today confirmed that Algerian tennis player Hichem Yasri has been banned from the sport for three months and fined $5000 (suspended on condition of no further breaches) for placing bets on tennis matches in breach of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) rules. None of the player’s bets were on matches he was participating in or had inside information on.
The United States Department of Justice has awarded the sum of USD 201 million to the FIFA Foundation as compensation for the losses suffered by FIFA, Concacaf and CONMEBOL as victims of decades of football corruption schemes. This money was seized from the bank accounts of former officials who were involved in, and then prosecuted for, years of corruption schemes in football. The funds will go into a newly formed World Football Remission Fund, established under the auspices of the FIFA Foundation to help finance football-related projects with positive community impact across the globe.
The Adjudicatory Chamber of the OFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee in a decision notified on 6 July 2021 has found Mr. Lee Harmon, President of the Cook Islands Football Association, guilty of having breached the OFC Code of Ethics.
Published Friday, 13 August 2021.
Peruvian tennis player Mauricio Echazu Puente has been provisionally suspended from the sport by independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Mr Raj Parker, pending the full consideration of charges against him.
STATEMENT:
Due to the publication of a statement by Nicolai “Hunden” Petersen, relating to a matter that is still undergoing investigation, ESIC has decided to issue its own statement, in both the public’s interest and to avoid speculation.
NVESTIGATIONS
Ghana
Football: Player scores two own goals to ruin match-fixing plot in Ghana
A player in the Ghana Premier League Hashmin Musah has claimed that he scored two deliberate own goals in a match on Saturday so as to foil an alleged match-fixing plot.
Over the past few months, International Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) across the globe have worked closely with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to help ensure fair competitions during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
21 JULY 2021, MONACO: In the lead up to the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has received 17 referrals for investigation of suspicious qualifying performances. The referrals were from 16 countries and included 31 athletes and five relay teams. As a result of the AIU’s investigations, eight qualifying performances for the Olympic Games were not recognised by World Athletics and the relevant athletes denied a place at the Games. A number of cases have been identified by the AIU for further investigation to determine if fraudulent conduct was involved.
Protecting the integrity of sport at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, taking place from 23 July to 8 August 2021, is a top priority for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC Executive Board (EB) was updated today on the measures put in place for Games time – aimed at both preventing and dealing swiftly with competition manipulation.
Two matches from this years Wimbledon championships are being investigated over possible irregular betting patterns
14 July 2021: The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported 38 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities during the second quarter (Q2) of 2021. The Q2 2021 total represents a 41% decrease in reported alerts when compared to the Q1 total of 64 and represents a similar decrease when compared to the Q2 2020 total, which saw 65 alerts. The Q2 alerts covered football (16 cases), table tennis (9), tennis (6), eSports (6) and beach volleyball (1). From a geographical perspective, Europe accounted for nearly half (47%) of all alerts reported, followed by Asia and South America with 13% each.
The UEFA Executive Committee today met in London ahead of the UEFA EURO 2020 final and took the following decisions.
Sanath Jayasundara, a former performance analyst at Sri Lanka Cricket, has been banned from all cricket for seven years after the ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal found him guilty of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
GLMS is pleased to share our 2021 Q1 Monitoring & Intelligence Report, in which you will find key facts and figures from GLMS' monitoring and intelligence work over the first 3 months of 2021, in the service of its members and for sport. We have also explained some trends and how we generate green alerts.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) players Amir Hayat and Ashfaq Ahmed have been banned from all cricket for eight years each after the ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal found them guilty of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has today confirmed that Colombian tennis player Carlos Andrés Sepúlveda Navarro has been banned from the sport for three years after admitting to multiple breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) rules. In addition to the ban, Sepúlveda Navarro was fined $10,000 with $8,000 suspended.
Published Friday, 18 June 2021.
On 4 September 2020, the Esports Integrity Commission (hereinafter referred as to “ESIC”) announced an investigation into an abuse of a bug (hereinafter referred as to the “Spectator Bug”) in the CS:GO’s spectator mode. ESIC together with Mr. Michal Slowinski’s help investigated about the wrongful use of said exploit.
Along with the Statement “Esports Integrity Commission Opens Inquiry into Historical Spectator Bug Exploitation’ a Confession Period was granted. This period was foreseen for any offending parties that wanted to come forward ahead of the investigation with an admission of wrongdoing. Said Period opened as of the date of the Statement’s release, 4th of September 2020, and closed on the 13th of September 2020 at 23:00 CET.
EPIC’s CIS RMR event has been the subject of public controversy for various reasons. As EPIC is not a member of ESIC, ESIC has not taken steps to investigate the extent of integrity threats in the event. However, on 9 June 2021, ESIC has made a referral to Valve including substantial evidence indicating the existence of potential betting fraud perpetrated by individuals participating or associated with those who were participating in the CIS RMR event run by EPIC.
ESIC has received evidence via its global Suspicious Betting Alert Network (SBAN) that the CEO of Project X, the team from which the Akuma roster emerged, Oleksandr Shyshko, has an active CSGO betting account and has placed numerous bets on highly suspicious Project X matches (when most of the current Akuma roster were playing as Project X) and, crucially, made accurate pre-match bets on the outcome of the Virtus Pro v Akuma match in the CIS RMR, the conduct of which match is subject to the current public cheating allegations against Akuma.
Three Belgian tennis players Romain Barbosa, Arthur de Greef and Alex Witmeur who are the subject of an ongoing criminal and ITIA investigation, have today been provisionally suspended by AHO Professor Richard McLaren.
Wicketkeeper-batter Gulam Shabbir of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been banned from all cricket for four years after admitting breaching six counts of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
Published Thursday, 26 August 2021.
- Significant US DOJ announcement brings five-year legal process to a close
- Recovered funds to be invested in football development activities
OVERVIEW:
For some time now, ESIC has been investigating several instances of match-fixing behaviour which took place in the North American region amongst CS:GO players participating in an ESEA tournament series. While this investigation is still ongoing, ESIC has made this release for the purposes of issuing an interim update.
To date, this investigation has been subject to significant cooperation with law enforcement agencies, anti-corruption supporters, and other stakeholders in order to ensure that the behaviour being perpetrated is thoroughly investigated and prosecuted under ESIC’s Anti-Corruption Code.
As of the date of this interim release, ESIC announces sanctions against three participants and is still in the process of conducting 34 additional investigations relating to this matter.
Notably, ESIC has observed compelling evidence that suggests that organised crime groups and foreign betting syndicates were involved in fraudulent activities during the course of Season 35 of the ESEA Premier: North America.
ESIC welcomes Esports Technologies (NASDAQ: EBET) as an ESIC Anti-Corruption Supporter. With the support of Esports Technologies, ESIC continues the battle against match-fixing and corruption in esports.
Anti-Corruption Supporters assist ESIC in investigating suspicious betting activity, supporting our larger mission in combating cheating and betting fraud in the esports industry.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirms that Moroccan tennis player Simohamed Hirs has been banned for life from the sport, following investigations into multiple incidents of match fixing.
Published Thursday, 29 July 2021.
In this episode our guest is Catherine Ordway, PhD. Catherine has an extensive background in anti-doping which has taken her around the world
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has confirmed that two tennis players from Uzbekistan, Temur Ismailov and Amal Sultanbekov, have been banned from the sport, following an investigation into match fixing at a tournament in 2019.
With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics fast approaching, FIFA has completed a series of integrity briefings with the participating teams and referees in order to raise awareness of potential threats to the game and outline FIFA’s preventative measures.
The sessions included practical examples on critical situations that team members and referees may face before, during or after the competition, as well as details on the appropriate mechanisms to report any incident relating to match manipulation.
UEFA’s comprehensive measures against potential match-fixing at UEFA EURO 2020 were based on two main pillars: education and prevention on the one hand, and monitoring and intelligence on the other.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) today confirms that six tennis players from Morocco have been provisionally suspended by independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Charles Hollander QC, pending an inquiry into match fixing allegations. The players are: Amine Ahouda, Anas Chakrouni, Ayoub Chakrouni, Mohamed Zakaria Khalil, Soufiane El Mesbahi and Yassir Kilani.
Welcome to our July 2021 Newsletter!
Welcome to our June 2021 Newsletter!
The Asian Racing Federation Council on Anti-illegal Betting and Related Financial Crime (“the Council”) this week released a new report: “A Report of Illegal Betting Growth during the Covid-19 Pandemic”.
Esports betting operator Ultimate Tournament eSportsbook™ is the newest addition to ESIC’s dedicated list of Anti-Corruption Supporters. In this capacity, Ultimate Tournament will assist ESIC in investigating suspicious betting activity across their betting platform, endorsing ESIC’s greater effort against match-fixing and betting fraud within the esports betting industry.
Anti-Corruption Supporters like Ultimate Tournament work with ESIC by providing information needed for initiating and conducting investigations on match-fixing and betting fraud.
An investigation into possible corruption during the Olympic boxing competition at Rio 2016 is to be led by Professor Richard McLaren, the man who uncovered the full extent of Russian state-sponsored doping. McLaren, who found that more than a thousand Russian athletes in 30 sports had been part of a sophisticated doping programme, has now been tasked with investigating potential judging and refereeing irregularities in Rio by the International Boxing Association (Aiba).
Published Wednesday, 16 June 2021.
Published Thursday, 10 June 2021.
Russian tennis player Yana Sizikova has been arrested at Roland Garros as part of an investigation into match-fixing at last years French Open.
An investigation was launched in October 2020 following last years delayed tournament after suspicions were raised revolving around organised fraud and sports corruption. The suspicion was first raised when Sizikova and partner Madison Brengle lost to Romanian duo Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tigin in the first round of the tournament. Betting companies noticed that hundreds of thousands of euros had been bet on a break of serve in the second set.
INVESTIGATIONS
National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF)
Suspicion of a match-fixing around PSG-Red Star Belgrade: the investigation closed
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) has closed its preliminary investigation into suspicions of rigging of the Champions League match between Paris-SG and the Red Star of Belgrade in October 2018, said Thursday the lawyer of the Serbian club, confirming information from the Team.
Published Tuesday, 04 May 2021.
Mediating Football Disputes: The New FIFA Mediation Guidelines