ITIA Hands Down Penalties to Six Tennis Players, Part of Larger Criminal Organization

The International Tennis Integrity Agency has banned a number of players from the sport with a total of six former representatives of the sport. They were supposedly tied to a criminal syndicate operating out of Belgium and directly undermining the integrity of the sport.

ITIA Targets Number of Players in Latest Match-Fixing Case

However, the six players are only a fraction of the criminal operation targeted by the regulator and local authorities. A total of 30 players were linked to the operations of a match-fixing scheme run by Grigor Sargsyan, who has received a five-year custodial sentence.

As to the new round of enforcement actions, the player to have been handed the longest-standing ban is the 34-year-old Agustin Moyanto, hailing from Argentina who will be suspended from professional events in any capacity, including attendance, for a period of 15 years, and face a fine of $10,000.

The other five players who have received various enforcement penalties include David Guez, Jerome Inzerillo, Romain Bauvy, Yannick Jankovits and François-Arthur Vibert and they have all received varying suspensions, that range from two to five years and seven months.

The highest-ranked player on the list is the former world’s #116, Guez, who is now 42. He will serve a four-year ban and also pay $25,000 – $17,500 of which has been suspended. The other player in the case, Inzerillo, received a $50,000 penalty and will have $35,000 of this suspended.

He is serving a five-year-and-seven-month ban, the longest penalty given to a player bar Moyanto’s. Vibert received a two-and-three-year ban from the sport, and he will pay $35,000 out of which – $28,500 was suspended.

ITIA Continues to Crack Down on Fraud in the Sport

Officials and players have all come under investigation from ITIA and the frequency of the organization issuing such enforcement actions has not been small. Previously in December, ITIA banned a tennis official from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The incidence of match-fixing in tennis can be particularly high and is generally one of the biggest sports to attract bad actors. Often, this has to do with disillusioned players who are barely eking out a living from playing who turn to seedier means.

Most certainly, it has to do with a lack of sufficient awareness of the dangers and pitfalls of engaging in such behavior. Regardless of the reasons or even the keeled playfield, however, ITIA is not going to sanction criminal behavior as the latest enforcement action demonstrated.