The recorded conversations, first reported in Italian media Oct. 15, add to the evidence that judicial investigators in the northern Italian town of Cremona have been collecting as part of a match-fixing probe into soccer.
In a 2007 Skype conversation between Daniele Bracciali and an accountant, Bracciali allegedly discussed losing a match in Newport, R.I. against American player Scoville Jenkins for € 50,000 (US$ 63,000) per set, reports Tennis Now.
Investigators also have a 2011 phone conversation, in which an unidentified betting parlor owner said he made an agreement with Potito Starace to throw the 2011 Casablanca final against Pablo Andujar. Starace lost the match against Andujar.
Lead prosecutor Roberto Di Martino confirmed the conversations were authentic and said other tennis players might be involved in match fixing, but would not provide any more information, writes Associated Press.
The Italian Tennis Federation (FIT) said it would request copies of all documents from Cremona investigators.
Potito Starace (Photo: Robbie Mendelson)
“If the inquiry confirms what went on in the intercepted conversations published by the newspapers then we’ll be dealing with serious and intolerable offenses,” said FIT president Angelo Binaghi.
Bracciali, 36, and Starace, 33, were among two of five Italian players banned by the ATP Tour in 2007-2008 for illegal betting, says Associated Press.
Three other tennis players received life bans: Austrian Daniel Koellerer in 2011, Serbian David Savic in 2012 and Russian Andrey Kumantsov this year.
In July 2014, Australian police charged one man and arrested five others in an operation involving an international tennis match-fixing syndicate.
Bracciali and Starace are currently playing doubles in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow and refused to comment on the allegations after their first-round win on Oct. 15, reports Tennis Now.
