Former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo has been sentenced
to three years in prison on Monday for his role in a match-fixing
scandal that shook Italian soccer, news reports said.
The ANSA and Apcom news agencies said Giraudo was convicted
on charges of criminal association aimed at committing sports fraud
by a court in Naples, Italy.
Giraudo was one of the figures at the center of the 2006
scandal, together with former Juventus executive Luciano Moggi.
Moggi is also on trial in Naples, along with other defendants, on
similar charges. Giraudo was tried separately in a fast-track trial
at his request.
Moggi and Giraudo were banned from football for five years by
a sports court for influencing the outcome of matches. They deny
wrongdoing.
Juventus was stripped of its 2005 and '06 Serie A titles and
relegated to the second division with a nine-point penalty. It
immediately won promotion back to Serie A.
The scandal was the most widespread corruption case in the
history of Italy's biggest sport. Besides Juventus, three other big
clubs - AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina - were penalized, as were
Reggina and Arezzo.
At the heart of the scandal were allegations that the two
created a network of contacts with soccer federation officials to
influence refereeing assignments and arrange for key players in
other teams to be booked ahead of matches with Juventus.
