The opaque financial structures of the sports sector, including soccer and basketball, can be abused by criminals seeking to disguise dirty money and climb social ladders, an intergovernmental organization said Wednesday.
An Argentine private banker who worked for Credit Suisse and Julius Baer helped deliver more than $25 million in bribe payments to world soccer officials with the help of forged documents, shell companies and Swiss bank accounts.
Asian, Russian and European crime syndicates "extensively" launder illicit funds through large scale match-fixing operations in Europe, either by abusing regulated betting operators or taking direct ownership of betting firms, the EU's law enforcement agency has warned.
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