CAS Extends Samuel Bensoussan Match-Fixing Ban to 3 Years After Appeal

Q: Why did the sports court increase a match-fixer's ban but deny the full requested six-and-a-half-year term?

CAS increased Samuel Bensoussan’s ban because it rejected his attempt to overturn the original findings and agreed with the ITIA that the initial sanction was too lenient for a player found to have committed 17 anti-corruption breaches linked to four fixed matches. The court said a longer suspension was warranted and brought the penalty more into line with comparable tennis corruption cases. But CAS stopped well short of the ITIA’s requested six-and-a-half years because it did not accept the case for the maximum increase the agency sought. The ITIA’s appeal was tied in part to an 18th alleged breach that had not been proven in the original ruling, and CAS did not find grounds to impose the full term. The additional reporting indicates the panel judged that Bensoussan’s level of culpability and the impact of his conduct, while serious, did not justify a sanction as long as six and a half years. So the court took a middle course: it dismissed Bensoussan’s claim that he had been wrongly drawn in by false accusations from Mick Lescure, upheld the corruption findings, and lengthened the ban from one year and 11 months to three years. At the same time, it declined to go as far as the ITIA wanted because the evidence and the gravity of his individual role did not support the full requested punishment.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 16

Three years is now Samuel Bensoussan's suspension after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his appeal and lengthened the penalty from 1 year and 11 months.
CAS acted after both sides appealed: Bensoussan sought to overturn findings tied to four fixed matches, while the International Tennis Integrity Agency argued the original sanction was too light.
17 of 18 anti-corruption charges were upheld against the 34-year-old former French player, who said former player Mick Lescure had falsely implicated him.
The ban still runs from its original May 2025 start date, pushing its end to May 2028; ITIA had asked CAS to raise it to 6 1/2 years.
The case sits within a wider Belgium-based syndicate that, according to ITIA documents cited by The Athletic, fixed at least 375 matches and involved 1,500 conspirators.