Independent disciplinary Hearing finds Federico Coria guilty of tennis corruption offences

Federico Coria, the 26-year old Argentinian tennis player, has been found guilty of breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (Program).

Mr Coria failed to report a corrupt approach made to him in July 2015 offering payment to lose a set in a match at the F17 ITF Futures tournament in Sassuolo, Italy.

In August 2015 he was again approached with a financial incentive to lose a number of matches during the course of a year.

Although Mr Coria did not accept any financial incentive or take action to comply with the corrupt approaches, he failed to inform the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), which constitutes a breach of the Program.

The player was also found to have committed a ‘technical’ breach of failing to co-operate with a TIU investigation. The cell phone supplied to the TIU for examination had been returned to its factory settings, although it was accepted this had not been done for an improper purpose.

The disciplinary Hearing into the case took place in Miami, Florida on 22 March 2018 and was adjudicated by independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Jane Mulcahy QC.

Having been found guilty of the charges he will be sanctioned at a future date to be determined by AHO Mulcahy. Details of the AHO’s Decision on sanctions will be made public when received.

Mr Coria is currently ranked 335 in singles and has a career high of 223 achieved in October 2017.

The breaches of the Program for which he has been found guilty are:

Section D.2.a.i: "In the event any Player is approached by any person who offers or provides any type of money, benefit or Consideration to a Player to (i) influence the outcome or any aspect of any Event, or (ii) provide Inside Information, it shall be the Player's obligation to report such incident to the TIU as soon as possible."

Section D.2.c: "For the avoidance of doubt, (i) a failure of the Reporting Obligation by any Covered Person… shall constitute a Corruption Offense for the purposes of the Program."

Section F.2.b: “All Covered Persons must cooperate fully with investigations conducted by the TIU including giving evidence at hearings, if requested. No Covered Person shall tamper with or destroy any evidence or other information related to any Corruption Offense.”

The Tennis Integrity Unit is an initiative of the Grand Slam Board, the International Tennis Federation, the ATP and the WTA, who are jointly committed to a zero tolerance approach to corruption in tennis.

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