LONDON — The International Tennis Fairness Body announced Wednesday that French tennis player Samuel Bensussan’s ban from competition for match-fixing has been extended to three years on appeal.
Bensussan was originally suspended for 1 year and 11 months for fixing singles and doubles matches in a sub-competition for a Belgium-based organized crime syndicate.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport extended the suspension of 34-year-old Bensoussan, whose ATP singles ranking peaked at No. 405 in June 2018, to three years.
Announcing the CAS ruling, ITIA said: “The investigation uncovered a criminal organization that corrupted at least 181 players and manipulated at least 375 tennis matches around the world.”
In a Belgian criminal case, the syndicate leader was sentenced to five years in prison.
Bensussan appealed to CAS to have his original suspension revoked, and ITIA asked the Sports Court to extend the ban to six-and-a-half years.
Three CAS judges refused to order Mr. Bensussan to repay 1,000 euros (about $1,150) that tennis investigators said he received as match-fixing for one of his matches in 2018.
