The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has confirmed that Lorenzo Chiurazzi, a national-level Italian chair umpire and line judge, has been banned from the sport for seven years and six months after admitting match fixing charges. In addition to the ban, the official has also been fined $50,000, with $33,500 suspended.
The offences relate to matches at a tournament in Perugia, Italy in 2021 and include the umpire delaying inputting scores into the electric scoring device, inputting scores which did not reflect the actual scores on court, failing to co-operate with the ITIA investigation and failing to report corrupt approaches.
The matter was dealt with under the ITIA’s ‘Proposal for Disposition’ process, which enables a sanction to be issued without a hearing upon admission of the offences. The ban will run from the date that the charges were made, 12 August 2022 until 11 February 2030. During that period Chiurazzi will not be able to officiate at or attend any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by any international tennis governing body or national association.
The breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) rules that Chiurazzi was found guilty of are:
Section D.1.b of the 2021 TACP: No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, facilitate any other person to wager on the outcome or any other aspect of any Event or any other tennis competition. For the avoidance of doubt, to facilitate a person to wager shall include, but not be limited to: display of live tennis betting odds on a Covered Person’s website; writing articles for a tennis betting publication or website; conducting personal appearances for, or otherwise participating in any event run by, a tennis betting company or any other company or entity directly affiliated with a tennis betting company; promoting a tennis betting company to the general public through posts on social media; wearing clothing which includes a tennis betting company name or logo; and appearing in commercial advertisements that encourage others to bet on tennis.
Section D.1.m of the 2021 TACP: No Covered Person shall purposely delay or manipulate entry of scoring data from any Event for any reason.
Section D.1.d of the 2021 TACP: No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, contrive the outcome, or any other aspect, of any Event.
Section D.2.b.i of the 2021 TACP: In the event any Related Person or Tournament Support Person is approached by any person who requests the Related Person or Tournament Support Person to (i) influence or attempt to influence the outcome of any aspect of any Event, or (ii) provide Inside Information, it shall be the Related Person’s or Tournament Support Person’s obligation to report such incident to the ITIA as soon as possible, even if no money, benefit or Consideration is offered or discussed.
Section F.2.b of the 2021 TACP: All Covered Persons must cooperate fully with investigations conducted by the ITIA including giving evidence at hearings, if requested. Even in the case where a Covered Person is represented by a legal counsel, the Covered Person is still personally responsible for ensuring that they cooperate fully with the investigation. The Covered Person shall be deemed not to have cooperated if the Covered Person’s legal counsel interferes with an ITIA investigation. A Covered Person’s failure to comply with any Demand, preserve evidence related to any Corruption 12 Offense or otherwise cooperate fully with investigations conducted by the ITIA, may result in an adverse factual inference against the Covered Person in any matter referred to an AHO.
The ITIA is an independent body established by the International Governing Bodies of Tennis to promote, encourage, enhance and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide.
Ends
Published 26 August 2022 15:30
