Buenos Aires legislators Graciela Ocaña and María Sol Méndez filed a criminal complaint yesterday for an “alleged illicit association” against the Argentine Football Association (AFA) based on “situations of alleged bribery and possible manipulation of sporting events, more precisely of football matches of the Argentine soccer promotion, in order to obtain an extraordinary profit through sports betting associated with those results.”
“One of the winning bets would have been made from the personal account of the son of the president of the Club, Federico Felippa, who would have been a necessary participant in the manipulation of the final score that would have allowed him to win an online bet,”
They also ask to investigate the AFA leadership for possible “bribery and influence peddling,” “simple and coercive threats” and “sports corruption.” Among the suspected matches is the defeat of Atenas de Río Cuarto at the hands of Juventud Unida de San Luis on September 29, which led to the criminal complaint against the leadership of the Córdoba club by officials of the provincial lottery.
“These shameful episodes would have allowed those involved to obtain extraordinary profits of at least four million pesos, by simply betting on a 3-0 defeat for Athens, which would be added to a prize for correctly predicting the two goals conceded in the first half, and combinations of how many players were going to be cautioned,”
