12 Serie A players being investigated in fresh betting scandal

A total of 12 Serie A players are now being investigated as part of a fresh betting scandal that can potentially rock Calcio.

La Repubblica have covered the situation – as have many other outlets. They state that some other facts about the betting ring involving athletes and footballers emerged after authorities looked through the phones of Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Fagioli.

As a result, as many as 12 Serie A players are being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office in Milan. The report mentions that footballers paid huge sums into the pockets of two managers of illegal online betting platforms, who allegedly got help from the administrators of a Milanese jewelry store that functioned as a bank to settle the accounts.

The jewelry store is called Elysium Group and Fagioli had paid about 700k to them. A table recovered by the authorities has revealed the names of Alessandro Florenzi, Tonali and Matteo Cancellieri. The suggestion is that the Newcastle United player and Fagioli often acted as intermediaries for the online platforms and often made deliveries of money to have their own debts reduced. This led to other names falling in the eyes of the Prosecutor – specifically that of Nicolo Zaniolo.

Angel di Maria, Weston McKennie, Raoul Bellanova, Samuele Ricci, Mattia Perin, Junior Firpo and Leandro Paredes are also under investigation. 

Fagioli has previously admitted that he also sought help from his teammates during his periods of financial crisis and the player he sought help from was specifically Federico Gatti. The defender isn’t under investigation and neither is Radu Dragusin, who also helped Fagioli.

The current Fiorentina man had also revealed that he did make payments to Elysium Group and even bought watches to make payments, having received invoices from it as well even though the watches were never delivered and the money was only a token of payment. He had also paid a part of his debt in cash. This operation was pointed out by Tonali and Zaniolo in their interviews after the previous scandal.

The two suspects of the case are Tommaso De Giacomo, known as Tommy and Patrik Frizzera, who were keen on tapping into the VIPs to attract high-level clients. 

Il Giorno have stated that these clients didn’t just include footballers but tennis players were also part of the scheme, with Zaniolo having previously stated that he never bet on football, but only on tennis and casino.

A house arrest has been recommended for five accused in the case and while these are not footballers, a total of 1.5 million has been seized by the Prosecutor of Milan as part of the case.

The outlet also claim that Fagioli’s credit card was once left behind in the jewelry store and this led to the revelation of some names. Having said that, Tonali and the ex-Juve midfielder are also under investigation, as things stand.

Trambak Bhattacherjee I GIFN