French tennis player Quentin Folliot suspended for 20 years over match-fixing
The player has also been fined $70,000 for 27 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program.
France.- The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has announced a 20-year ban against the French tennis player Quentin Folliot involvement in match-fixing. The 26-year-old has also been fined $70,000 and must repay corrupt payments totalling more than $44,000 after being found to have committed 27 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).
Folliot is the sixth player to be sanctioned as a result of an ITIA investigation into a network of players that operated on behalf of a match-fixing syndicate. The players Jaimee Floyd-Angele, Paul Valsecchi, Luc Fomba, Lucas Bouquet and Enzo Rimoli have already been sanctioned.
Folliot’s career-high world singles ranking was 488 in August 2022. He denied 30 charges relating to 11 tennis matches between 2022 and 2024, eight of which he played in. The charges included contriving the outcome of matches, receiving money to not give best efforts for betting purposes, offering money to other players to fix matches, provision of inside information, conspiracy to corrupt, failure to co-operate with an ITIA investigation and destruction of evidence.
A remote hearing was held before independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Amani Khalifa, in October. Khalifa upheld 27 of the 30 charges relating to 10 of the 11 matches in question. Three charges (provision of inside information, failure to report a corrupt approach, and contriving the outcome of a match) relating to a doubles match in January 2024 were dismissed.
In the written decision, dated December 1, Khalifa characterised Folliot as “a vector for a wider criminal syndicate, actively recruiting other players and attempting to embed corruption more deeply into the professional tours.”
In determining sanction, AHO Khalifa also accounted for aggravating factors, including Folliot’s wilful obstruction of the ITIA investigation.
Time served under provisional suspension will be credited against the player’s period of ineligibility. Having been provisionally suspended since 17 May 2024, Folliot’s suspension will end on May 16 2044, subject to repayment of outstanding fines.
During the period of ineligibility, Folliot is prohibited from playing in, coaching at, or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA (ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, Fédération Française de Tennis, Wimbledon and USTA) or any national association.
