Latest News

Forest owner Marinakis accused of match-fixing in Greece as competing fights his UK lawsuit

Evangelos Marinakis, a Greek shipping tycoon and owner of English Premier League soccer club Nottingham Forest, was on Thursday implicated of trying to fix a Greek soccer match, in a London libel lawsuit he is bringing over an alleged character assassination in Britain.

Marinakis introduced the libel case against Irini Karipidis, chair of Greek Super League club Aris Thessaloniki, and others at London's High Court this year.

He declares Karipidis was behind a site containing allegations Marinakis was associated with match fixing, drug smuggling and shipping Russian oil in breach of sanctions, which he highly denies.

Marinakis' legal representatives state the project involved driving a mobile billboard around Nottingham Forest's ground before 2 matches in 2023, directing people to the site.

Karipidis, nevertheless, says she has a clear defence of truth to the libel suit. She asked the court to overturn permission granted in May to serve the suit on her outside of England.

Her lawyer Matthew Hodson said in court files that Marinakis had actually begun a project against Karipidis after her bro Theodoros refused to repair a video game between Aris and Olympiakos, which is owned by Marinakis, in 2023.

Hodson said in the file that throughout the game, which finished 2-2, Marinakis became so angry that according to (Irini Karipidis) he threatened that Theodoros 'would not leave the field alive' if Olympiakos lost.

Marinakis' attorney David Sherborne said in court files that the allegation had been made in open court just to produce unfavorable publicity.

He argued Karipidis' application to revoke permission to serve the case on her was a transparent effort to enhance their campaign against Marinakis.

Ari Harow, a former assistant to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah, is likewise a defendant, with Marinakis alleging Harow helped with payments to support the alleged negative campaign.

His lawyer Ali Sinai stated in court documents that the case against Harow should likewise be tossed out.

(source: Reuters)