When Belgian police investigating claims of tennis match rigging uncovered a vast, international web of corruption, the London based International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) asked SHB, long-time outside counsel to the ITIA, for assistance in bringing anti-corruption charges against participating tennis professionals.
The ITIA and SHB drew on a broad coalition of investigators, counsel and independent hearing officers to evaluate evidence, frame charges and pursue cases to hold perpetrators accountable. Independent anti-corruption hearing officers imposed wide-ranging sanctions against the players. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, recently confirmed the latest disciplinary outcome over the su mmer, upholding a seven-year ban and $30,000 fine against Argentine player Sofía Luini.
The cases, stemming from a four-year police investigation known as Operation Belgium, required close coordination across global jurisdictions and a strategy that aligned penalties with the seriousness of the offenses. Smith Hulsey & Busey’s Sports Litigation and Counseling group , known for its experience in match-fixing and corruption cases in professional tennis, worked with the ITIA to successfully defend the appeals to CAS.
The Belgium Investigation
As the Belgium police investigation unfolded from 2014 to 2018, Operation Belgium revealed a criminal syndicate involving at least 12 players, thousands of documents and electronically store information and hundreds of alleged match-fixing cases. The ITIA brought the charges pursuant to the Tennis Anti-Corruption Code adopted by all the governing bodies of professional tennis.
The ITIA and SHB worked closely to ensure the evidentiary record supported the charges and recommended sanctions to reinforce anticorruption protocols.
The cases stemmed from the arrest of Grigor Sargsyan, who ran a global match-fixing syndicate from Brussels, Belgium, and was sentenced to five years in prison. This led to the raid of the home of Sebastian Rivera, a former Chilean professional tennis player who played a key role in corrupting other players. He possessed multiple phone numbers and other evidence linking others to match fixing, including handwritten notes containing the number of Mexican tennis player Alberto Rojas Maldonado. ITIA’s fo rensic downloads of mobile phone s seized during the investigation also connected Maldonado with multiple money transfers.
Maldonado’s involvement led to the discovery of ten other players connected to the syndicate ? four of whom failed to respond to the ITIA’s charges, thereby admitting the offenses . These included Guatemalan player Christopher Diaz-Figueroa and Mexican players Antonio Ruiz-Rosales, Orlando Alcántara Rangel and José Antonio Rodriguez. Maldonado also failed to respond and was deemed to have committed 92 breaches, making him the most prolific tennis match-fixer in history.
The players who responded to the allegations agreed to plea agreements, including Ecuadorean Iván Endara and Mexican players Raúl Isaías Rosas-Zarur and Mauricio Reséndiz Domínguez, who were suspended for five years and fined $15,000. Mexican brothers Ivar Aramburu Contreras and Aitor Aramburu Contreras also agreed to bans of 26 and 22 months, respectively, and were hit with tens of thousands in fines.
Peruvian Jorge Brian Panta Herreros and Bolivian Alejandro Mendoza Crespo contested the charges against them, which were heard by an independent arbitrator in the spring of 2024. Herreros was suspended for three years and fined $10,000 after being found to have committed four major offenses under the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program ( TACP). Crespo received a lifetime ban and a fine of and $250,000 – the maximum penalty – for committing 20 major TACP offenses.
A victory for integrity in tennis
Independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Richard McLaren presided over the proceedings, imposing almost all the sanctions that the ITIA and SHB recommended. All but two of the charges were upheld on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland in a 2024 decision.
One of the most recent cases to emerge from the Belgium investigation involved Argentine player Sofía Luini, whom the ITIA charged with 24 TACP violations in January 2024. An independent anti-corruption hearing officer found her guilty on 22 of those counts, including facilitating betting, contriving results, receiving money and failing to report corrupt approaches. Luini was suspended for seven years and fined $30,000.
Luini’s appeal to CAS, but CAS upheld Luini’s sanctions in a July 28, 2025, ruling. CAS confirmed Luini’s ban and fine in full.
The ITIA’s success reflects the combined efforts of its London-based in-house team, Katy Stirling and colleagues, together with outside counsel from Smith Hulsey & Busey: chairman Steve Busey, shareholder John Thomas, John MacLennan, who is of counsel to the firm, and associates Maggie McQuiddy and Kimberlee Styple.
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