Lost gamble
May 19, 2011
Ante Sapina, the German-Croatian frontman of a match-fixing operation that manipulated dozens of soccer matches, has been convicted of fraud and sentenced to five years and six months in prison by a district court in Bochum, Germany.
Sapina's co-defendant, Marijo C., received the same sentence. Another co-defendant was sentenced to one-and-a-half years with probation. Sapina and Marijo C. have already spent 17 and 18 months respectively in custody leading up to the trial, although Sapina was released last month on bail.
Prosecutors had sought seven years in prison for Sapina and six-and-a-half years for Marijo C. Sapina had previously been sentenced to nearly three years in prison in 2005 for a similar betting scandal involving the German referee Robert Hoyzer.
Sapina was behind Europe's largest-ever betting scandal and reportedly fixed matches in the German Oberliga, the Champions League and even qualifying matches of the World Cup.
During the trial, Sapina admitted to fixing more than 20 matches between 2008 and 2009. Some of the matches directly involved an entire team who participated in the manipulation.
Author: Matt Zuvela (dpa, SID)
Editor: Martin Kuebler