LONDON (AP) — The International Tennis Integrity Agency said Thursday French tennis player Quentin Folliot has been suspended for 20 years and fined $70,000 for match-fixing.
The ITIA said Folliot has also been ordered to repay “corrupt payments” totaling more than $44,000 for “committing 27 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).”
Folliot’s suspension will end in May 2044, “subject to repayment of outstanding fines.” Time served under a provisional suspension in May 2024 will be credited against the player’s period of ineligibility.
During the period of ineligibility, the ITIA said Folliot is prohibited from “playing in, coaching at, or attending any tennis event authorized or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA … or any national association.”
The ITIA said its investigation found that the 26-year-old Folliot was “a central figure in a network of players operating on behalf of a match-fixing syndicate.”
It said Folliot is the sixth player to be sanctioned as a result of the investigation, following the cases of Jaimee Floyd-Angele, Paul Valsecchi, Luc Fomba, Lucas Bouquet and Enzo Rimoli.
The ITIA said that Folliot, the world’s No. 488 player in 2022, denied 30 charges relating to 11 tennis matches between 2022 and 2024, eight of which Folliot played in.
“Charges included contriving the outcome of matches, receiving money to not give best efforts for betting purposes, offering money to other players to fix matches, provision of inside information, conspiracy to corrupt, failure to cooperate with an ITIA investigation, and destruction of evidence,” the ITIA said.
It said a remote hearing was held in October before independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Amani Khalifa, who upheld 27 of the 30 charges, relating to 10 of the 11 matches.
Three charges related to a doubles match in 2024 — provision of inside information, failure to report a corrupt approach, and contriving the outcome of a match — were dismissed.
In the written decision from Dec. 1, the ITIA said Khalifa characterized Folliot as “a vector for a wider criminal syndicate, actively recruiting other players and attempting to embed corruption more deeply into the professional tours.”
In determining the sanction, Khalifa also accounted for aggravating factors, including Folliot’s willful obstruction of an ITIA investigation.
The ITIA is an independent body “established by its tennis members to promote, encourage, enhance, and safeguard the integrity of their professional tennis events.”
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