Europol has collaborated with Spanish authorities in an investigation against a criminal organization specializing in match-fixing, resulting in 23 arrests, according to a statement released by Europol.
The investigation involved Spanish law enforcement agencies, specifically the Polici'a National, the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria), and the Romanian Police (Politia Romana), with additional support from Interpol. The investigation was launched in 2020 when suspicions of irregular online betting on international table tennis tournaments were identified.
Further analysis led to the identification of a criminal network composed mainly of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens based in Spain. This organization bribed athletes, mainly of these two nationalities, engaged in international competitions.
The suspects focused their efforts mainly outside of Spain, with the head of the organization bribing athletes playing for several football teams in Romania. The criminal network's mode of operation was based on the use of advanced technology: they used satellites to intercept live feeds of competitions before they reached the betting houses. They also had access to less sophisticated systems to detect the signal before it reached the betting houses. This allowed them to bet safely and to perpetuate fraud, as they knew the outcome of the matches in advance.
The criminal network mainly bet on Asian and South American football leagues, as well as the Bundesliga. However, they also targeted high-level competitions such as the UEFA Nations League, the Qatar 2022 World Cup and the ATP and ITF tennis tournaments. To avoid suspicion, they placed bets on behalf of third parties who cashed in the winnings for them.
Article published on 15 September 2023 - 12:57
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