About a dozen Seriea A football players are under investigation in a new probe into illicit betting on sports other than soccer, sources said Friday.
The probe involved betting up to 2023, police said.
Two players who have already served bans for betting allegedly acted as collectors for the other bettors, Newcastle and ex Milan Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali and Fiorentina and ex Juve Italy midfielder Nicolò Fagioli, police said.
Among the other players involved are Juve and USA midfielder Weston McKennie, Fiorentina, ex Roma, Astona Villa and Galatasaray Italy winger Nicolò Zaniolo, Atalanta and Italy right wing-back Raoul Bellanova, and former Juventus winger Angel Di Maria, now in the twilight of his illustrious career at Benfica.
The footballers, according to what has been learned, are being investigated for having played on illegal betting and poker platforms and for having advertised them among other footballers.
There are numerous other names of footballers that appear in the investigation documents.
Among these are also those of AC Milan and former Roma and Italy full back Alessandro Florenzi Alessandro, Juve reserve goalkeeper Mattia Perin, Torino and Italy midfielder Samuele Ricci, and Roma and Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes.
Police said Fagioli and Sandro Tonali, "in addition to having placed numerous bets" on illegal platforms, allegedly acted as "gambler collectors" and were "remunerated with bonuses on their gaming accounts" and with debt reduction.
This has emerged from the documents of the Milan investigation.
The two, in fact, are being investigated for a charge that also concerns the "advertising" given to the illegal betting ring, while all the others are being investigated as "mere gamblers".
The latter are twenty in total, including not only footballers but also other athletes.
They allegedly paid their gambling debts with bank transfers to a jewelry store, pretending to buy Rolexes and other luxury watches.
According to the prosecution, the footballers were first given credit by the betting organizers; when the debt became onerous, they were directed to the jewelry store so that they would apparently pay the price of the watches with perfectly traceable bank transfers, which remained in the store at the disposal of the organizers, while the athletes left only with the invoice issued for the simulated purchase.
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