ADRIÀ FRUITÓS
How much to lose a set? And how much to throw a match? When questioned by investigators while in police custody in mid-October, a French tennis player explained he was first approached to lose a match for €500. He flatly refused. But the offer increased: €700, €1,000, €2,000. At €5,000, the player accepted.
Ranked outside the top 100 on the ATP Tour, the male professional circuit, he was among the three French tennis players charged on October 18 in a match-fixing case that continues to grow in scope. So far, Marseille prosecutors have confirmed that seven people, including players, former players, accomplices and intermediaries, have been charged with organized fraud, corruption of a participant in a sporting event, participation in a criminal association and, for some, aggravated money laundering. Five are French, one is Romanian and one is Bulgarian, and all are aged between 23 and 29. Five of them were placed under conditional release with a ban, in particular, on engaging in any professional or social activity related to tennis, while two remain in preventive detention. Additional indictments could follow soon, including those of two Bulgarian brothers under a European arrest warrant, suspected of being at the heart of the network.
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