Scamfluencers - Game. Set. Scam.

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Grigor Sargysan turned the tennis world on its head by masterminding a global match-fixing scheme. He rallies underpaid players in fast cash, and spins authorities out with a scheme so carefully crafted, he becomes known as The Maestro. But international law enforcement agencies are watching and waiting to serve their ace.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to scamfluencers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Apple podcasts. Sachi, I think it's safe to say we're both not really gifted when it comes to sports. So which sport, if any, do you wish you were really good at? Okay, that's a rude assumption to make about me. What if I'm great at them? You're not. I just wanted to suggest that I could be. I know this is stupid, but I remember feeling such shame about being bad at track and field, which was a mandatory part of gym class at my schools,

and I wish I could have done any of them. Anything. Shot put or jumping over that big bar or jumping over the little bars. Anything jumping on a track, I think, I wish I could do. That is really true. I wish I could run. I wish I could just simply run.

Yeah, that would be fine. Well, mine is tennis because it's not a team sport and it's kind of glamorous like okay Is there a universe where you can kind of see me as a tennis star? No only cuz you just have so many limbs. You're so tall. It's not good I don't know. I feel like they'd be going all over the place like watching an octopus play that is fair Okay, so I'm gonna tell you a story about tennis, but sadly there's absolutely zero glamour here.

This story is about the tennis pros we don't hear about. The ones who are scraping by hoping for their shot at success. Until they get an offer, they truly cannot refuse. It's September 2014 and Gregor Sargasson is standing in the lobby of a cheap hotel about two hours outside of Brussels, Belgium. Gregor is 24 years old with a scruffy beard and manicured brows. He's in law school, but he's bored as hell. He's looking for some excitement and the chance to make some money.

That's why he's come to this small town in Belgium. There's a tennis tournament here, and he's going to bet on it. This tournament is small. Nothing like Wimbledon or the US Open. The grand prize is just $10,000. It's not even enough to cover most players' travel expenses. Gregor looks around and watches the players prepare for their matches. Some are stringing their own rackets. Others pace around nervously. Gregor is trying to scope out a target

and convince one of them to lose their set on purpose. He's not so different from these scrappy players really. He's young, tight on cash, and willing to take a risk. He's using a good chunk of his life savings, $350, to place a bet and hopefully win big. Gregor is looking for a player from far away, like Latin America or Africa. He thinks they might be more willing to throw a match because they'll want this trip to Belgium to at least pay for itself.

Then Gregor spots his mark, an athlete sitting alone. He approaches a kid and asks, do you like gambling? He says he'll pay the athlete a fee upfront to throw the match, and the player agrees instantly. I would happily be paid to lose things. I do it for free all the time. I mean, I would definitely say yes. But this humble little scam is about to balloon

and turn Gregor into a high-flying international man of mystery. He'll become known throughout the tennis world as the maestro and end up carrying out one of the biggest, most organized match fixing rings in the history of tennis. Hello, I'm Emily, one of the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you inside the lives of our biggest celebrities. Some of them hit the big time overnight, some had to plug away for years, but in our latest

series we're talking about a man who was world famous before he was even born. A life of extreme privilege that was mapped out from the start, but left him struggling to find his true purpose. A man who, compared to his big brother, felt a bit, you know, spare. Yes, it's Prince Harry. You might think you know everything about him, but trust me, there's even more. We follow Harry and the obsessive, all-consuming relationship of his life, not with Meghan, but the British tabloid press. Hounded and harassed, Harry is taking on an institution almost every bit as powerful as his own royal family.

Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to podcasts or listen early and ad free on Wandery Plus on Apple podcasts or the Wandery app. What does it mean to be Black in America? In NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths, a collection of stories as varied, nuanced, and dynamic as Black experiences, you'll hear. It means everything. Search NPR Black Stories, Black this is Scamfluencers.

The world of professional tennis is known for big-name stars and millions of dollars in prizes, but it's also full of struggling players barely scraping by. When they're approached by a charming scammer with an opportunity too good to resist, some of them end up staking their careers in a very dangerous game. This is Game Set Scam. In 2006, Gregor Sargasson is just an average 16-year-old. It's long before he throws himself into a life of crime.

And one day, he's walking around his hometown of Brussels, Belgium, when he passes a storefront. In the window, there's a television playing the French Open. It's one of the biggest professional tennis tournaments in the sport, alongside Wimbledon and the Australian Open. But Gregor doesn't know that. He's never seen tennis before, but he's mesmerized. The game reminds him of his first love, chess, and he intuitively picks up on the player's strategy. Gregor and his family immigrated from Armenia when he was nine, and they settled in one of Brussels' poorest neighborhoods. He realized early on that he needed to use his smarts to fit in. So he learned French, studied social cues to help make friends,

and used his photographic memory to ace his schoolwork. These skills also turned him into a chess prodigy. He rose through the ranks of a local chess club. He was so good that at the age of 13, he earned the chance to play against the former world champion Anatoly Karpov. I've actually got a picture of this match. Sachi, check it out. Oh my God.

Okay, it's this little kid. He's so small. He's playing chess with an adult man. And then there are a bunch of other adult men circled around him watching. He looks like a baby. I know, it's really cute. But Gregor eventually quits chess. The matches got too stressful and overwhelmed him. But after he sees tennis for the first time in the storefront window,

he rushes to sign up for his high school team. And he finds that tennis gives him the same sense of excitement he used to get from chess. Both are games of strategy and anticipation. Players have to predict what their opponent is going to do and then figure out how to outmaneuver them. They have to time their moves just right to catch the other player off guard. Like chess, tennis attracts a wealthy upper-class crowd. Tournaments are sponsored by luxury brands like Rolex, Lexus, and Amex. So Gregor does what he does best. He anticipates and adapts.

He becomes really good at code-switching between the world of Europe's elite and his working-class roots. During school hours, he plays tennis, speaks multiple languages, and gets good grades. But after school, back in his own neighborhood, Gregor plays along with his friends' pranks and commits petty crimes.

Sometimes, they'll all sneak into a bougie grocery store in the city and take off with caviar, lobster, and even champagne. He's a sharp kid who understands how to act the part to fit in and get ahead in this world, and he intends to do just that. About eight years later, Gregor is 24 years old the part to fit in and get ahead in this world. And he intends to do just that. About eight years later, Gregor is 24 years old and sleepwalking his way

through law school while still living with his parents. He's on a very traditional path, but he's bored. He feels like he's wasting his talents. His neighborhood friends have started hanging around a bookie and they spend all their money betting on soccer. All they want to talk about is their most recent bets. Gregor's intrigued. He likes gambling.

It's yet another game of analysis, anticipation, and opportunity. But soccer isn't his thing. Tennis is. So he starts to wonder, why not bet on tennis? It turns out Gregor is on to something. Tennis might have the image of a high-class gentleman's sport, but it has a shady history. Investigators and regulators have called tennis, quote,

the world's most manipulated sport. That's in part because there's just so much to bet on. There are tons of leagues, way more than just the ones where the most famous players compete. The International Tennis Federation, or ITF for example, is the lowest level of professional tennis. That league alone holds hundreds of tournaments a year all over the world. Gamblers can also bet not just on each match, but even individual points and sets within those matches. It's so funny how interesting tennis is to gamblers because there are so many games and there's all these little subsections of things that you can bet on.

Like there are infinite ways to lose money gambling on tennis. There are, but tennis gambling really takes off. Around this time, it's already estimated to be a multi-billion dollar industry. But unlike some of the rich people he's met while playing chess and tennis, Gregor doesn't have a ton of extra money lying around. And he doesn't want to be stressing over the bets he places like some of his friends. So he comes up with a solution. He'll find a way to get the results of a match before it happens and bet accordingly.

He just needs a player to help him work the system and wring the game in his favor. Gregor decides to focus on the down and out pros struggling in the ITF, that lowest league. He knows how grueling their schedules are. They need to buy their own gear and pay for their own training just to earn a spot in tournaments. Once they get in, the travel is nonstop.

There are so many tournaments all year, all around the world, and players front that cost themselves. Gregor knows that almost anything he offers these players will be pretty enticing. If he convinces them to lose on purpose, they'll both win. It's a great plan, in theory, but Gregor needs to put it into action. So he finds an ITF tournament happening nearby in a small town just two hours away. This is the tournament I told you about at the beginning of the episode. Gregor is in that dingy hotel and he narrows in

on a player who he hopes will be down to play along. The player agrees to lose the second set of his match in exchange for $600. I know I said earlier that I would happily be paid to lose anything, but $600 is not enough. Like I would refuse to lose a game of Tic Tac Toe for 600 bucks. Well, you're obviously not a struggling athlete,

but this player delivers for Gregor. Thanks to the 11 to one odds on the match, Gregor's bet of a few hundred bucks turns into $4,000. More than enough to pay the athlete the $600 he promised with plenty left over for himself. Gregor is ecstatic. And when he asks if the player knows anyone else who would want in on this scheme, the player says, definitely. Gregor wastes no time cultivating a stable of players willing to manipulate matches. And because he knows several languages, he can talk to players from all around the world.

His charm earns their trust. But anyone who still has concerns might be convinced when they see what Gregor is wearing. He buys a Rolex with the money from his first few fixes and flashes it subtly when talking to new players. He pretends to forget that he's wearing it. And if anyone asks him about it, he acts like it's no big deal. Struggling athletes fall for the act. Hook, line and sinker.

I think it's impressive the way that men always find a way to trick people with watches. It's always a watch. It really is always a watch. It's always a watch. Well, Gregor has come up with the perfect way to combine his love of tennis with his obsession with strategy and make tons of money doing it.

And once he gets an early taste of success, his old ambitions kick in. Because Gregor is not looking to be a small-time bookie. He's out to be the world's biggest name in tennis match fixing. In 2016, Kareem Hassam steps onto a court in his native Egypt. He's 22 years old with a round face and intense eyes.

He's nervous, which is unusual, because this isn't the biggest match Karim's ever played in by far. It's taking place in a small tennis club next to a shopping mall. But it's the first time he'll be throwing a match for someone known in the tennis world as the maestro. He's only spoken to him over text, but agreed to lose a match in exchange for guaranteed

cash. Kareem used to be one of Africa's fastest-rising tennis stars. He was highly ranked and had a killer serve. He even played in the Australian and French Opens. He was fighting to work his way up in the sport, and his dad was paying for all of it. But after the Arab Spring, his family's lumber company fell on hard times.

Kareem wanted to get into bigger, more prestigious tournaments so he could win more money. But he had to pay to train for it and travel to these competitions. Kareem struggled through it. But about three years before this match in Egypt, he was approached by another player on the tour. The player asked if he'd be willing to throw a match

for $1,000. Kareem was curious and agreed. But even after getting his cash, he wasn't planning on making match fixing a regular thing. He later said that he told his father about it and his dad was pissed. He told Kareem he was ruining his life and his career. If a tennis player is found guilty of fixing even one match,

they can be disqualified for life. But a couple of years later, Kareem's financial strain got even more intense. His father was diagnosed with cancer and any money left went to medical bills. If Kareem wanted to continue with tennis, he had to make it on his own. Then Kareem was introduced to Gregor. They met via text. Gregor talked to Kareem like a friend. Kareem felt like he could trust him. So he agreed to start working with him.

I'm a little surprised by how little work Gregor has to do to get these people to trust him. I mean, he certainly is a charmer. And this match in Egypt is the first time Kareem will actually lose on purpose for Gregor. Despite the panic he starts to feel, after Kareem loses the first set, nothing happens. The audience applauds and the umpire continues the game.

Kareem's in the clear, and whatever misgivings he had on the court quickly disappear. He gets his first payment right after the game. Over the next few months, Kareem continues to throw matches. Gregor pays fast, and he always seems available to respond to messages. Business is good. And when Kareem finally meets Gregor in person, he's even more impressed with his new mentor.

Gregor is dressed to the nines, has tons of charisma, and takes Kareem to a fancy restaurant. He seems to be a man who enjoys the finer things and is happy to share them. You know, that's nice. If you're gonna rip people off, you should share the wealth. I mean, it is the least he could do because he is profiting quite a lot off these people. But working with Gregor gives Kareem the financial security he's been desperate for. And when Gregor asks if he knows anyone else who'd be willing to throw matches,

Kareem says, hell yeah. And he starts recruiting. Kareem quickly contacts other players he knows. He even gets his younger brother to join the scam. He is all in. Yeah, and he starts recruiting. Kareem quickly contacts other players he knows. He even gets his younger brother to join the scam. He is all in. Kareem has put his trust and his future in Gregor's hands. And he is not the only one. The good times are definitely rolling in for Gregor.

Based on his spending habits, it seems like he's raking in tens of thousands of dollars a week. He's enjoying the hell out of it. He travels all over Europe to watch tennis. He wears Hugo Boss and drives a Jaguar, eats at the fanciest restaurants and stays in the best hotels. The way he flaunts his wealth isn't just a matter of personal style, it's also a recruitment tactic. It makes the tennis players even more excited to work with him.

Even some coaches get in on the scam and help with recruitment. This is like a really male MLM. Actually, that is a very good description. But Gregor sees himself as more of a Robin Hood figure. He wins bets placed by the rich and spreads the earnings among the struggling tennis players. To him, the real crime is how professional tennis operates, by squeezing thousands of low-ranking players for every penny they have on the off chance that they can make it big.

Gregor knows that in order to keep growing his operation, he's also got to keep his players happy. So he gives them different options for how to win the fix. He shows them how much they'd earn throwing just a few points versus a full set or an entire match. He also takes time to show the young athletes that he cares. Like when one of his recruits can't afford to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring, Gregor fronts the bill.

He also pays for another one of his fixers to fly his mom out to his wedding. Things are going so well for Gregor that even if a player doesn't throw the match exactly how they agreed, he'll give them the cash anyway. He knows that gestures, big and small, keep his players happy and loyal. His reputation earns him the nickname The Maestro. I know The Maestro is a nickname from Seinfeld,

but I feel like in this context, it's much more nefarious. It sounds like a supervillain name. I feel like he's trying to build a really powerful ethos around himself. Yeah, it is pretty sinister, but also appropriate because he's conducting a ton of other people. Gregor's operation involves more than just players and coaches. There are also a bunch of other gamblers that actually place bets for him.

This network is made up of working-class Armenians like Gregor used to be. They're mechanics, taxi drivers, and even a pizza delivery guy. They work together and bet small to avoid scrutiny and then spread the winnings around. The most important of them is a 30-something man in Armenia named Andronik Matarossian. He's the money guy. We don't know how Gregor and Andronik met, but he becomes a central player in Gregor's scheme.

When Gregor is unable to personally deliver duffel bags of cash to his players, Andronik arranges the drops for them. Oh, and Andronik's doing this all from prison. He's serving a six-year sentence for hooliganism. That is the official charge. He assaulted several men in a nightclub named Caliente. Okay, hooliganism for assault?

I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense, but I would be remiss if we didn't talk about the nightclub being called Caliente, which is a perfect name for any establishment. Yeah, we gotta hit up Caliente sometimes, Sachi. By this point, Gregor's match fixing scheme is one of the biggest in the world. It involves 180 players from more than 35 countries.

They rig at least several hundred matches and generate millions of dollars. But Gregor has to be careful to cover his tracks. He often sleeps at his parents' apartment in his old bedroom with all his chess championship medals, just so no one suspects he's as wealthy as he really is. He even takes shifts at a Polish deli where his parents work.

Just like when he was a kid, Gregor is code-switching between his two lives. He tells the players he works with to keep a low profile too, and gives them SIM cards registered anonymously so their calls and texts can't be tracked back to him. Gregor is extra cautious about every aspect of his scam. But at the same time, match fixing has exploded in the tennis world.

And what Gregor doesn't know is that the authorities are about to crack down. Some stories were never meant to be heard. Beneath the visible world of parliaments, politicians and civil servants, lies an invisible state filled with secret operatives playing to very different rules. From Wondery, I'm Indra Varma and this is The Spy Who. This month we open the file on Noor Anayat Khan, the spy who wouldn't lie.

When Germany invades France, Noor and her family are forced to flee to Britain. But Noor decides she can't just sit out the war, so she accepts one of the most dangerous spy missions of World War II, a job that will put her deep into enemy territory. Follow the Spy Who now wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of The Spy Who Wouldn't Lie early and ad-free with Wondery Plus. I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankopan. And in our podcast Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history. This season, we delve into the life of Alan Turing. Why are we talking about Alan Turing, Peter? Alan Turing is the father of computer science

and some of those questions we're thinking about today around artificial intelligence. Turing was so involved in setting and framing what some of those questions were, but he's also interesting for lots of other reasons, Afro. He had such a fascinating life. He was unapologetically gay at a time when that was completely criminalised and stigmatised.

And from his imagination, he created ideas that have formed the very physical, practical foundation for all of the technology on which our lives depend. And on top of that, he's responsible for being part of a team that saved millions, maybe even tens of millions of lives because of his work during the Second World War using maths and computer science to code break. So join us on Legacy wherever you get your podcasts. I feel like a legend In January 2016 BuzzFeed News and the BBC published an investigation that exposes the

enormous scale of tennis match fixing. It drops just before the Australian Open is set to begin. This investigation is about games played years ago, while before Gregor started match fixing. But it makes schemes like his the talk of the tennis world. Take a listen to this report from BBC World News. Over the last decade, 16 players who have ranked in the top 50 have been repeatedly reported over suspicions that they've thrown matches. The report suggests that tennis fixing could be driven by organized crime rings in Russia

and Italy. And it alleges that the International Tennis Federation and the other groups that oversee the sport had been warned about suspicious betting activity many times but seemed to ignore it. They haven't issued any punishments or sanctions on any suspected players. Days after the report comes out, leaders of the various governing bodies announce an independent review of how they handle suspicious activity. They know it will be a hard thing to get to the bottom of because there's no easy way to prove a player is losing on purpose.

They decide they need to find the person setting up the fixes, like the Russian or Italian gamblers or Gregor. All the attention on rooting out match fixing eventually wears on Gregor. He becomes paranoid. He starts to suspect that his phone is being tapped and that he's being followed. When his girlfriend starts asking about where he gets all his money, he breaks up with her. Even his mother starts to worry.

Sarah, as you know, anytime I go out with anybody, I do a full background check on them. And high on the list of questions I ask is, where does your money come from? And it is fishy if they won't answer it. It's funny because you're not joking about the background check thing. No, I would never.

Well, Gregor's stress starts to affect his business, and it changes how he interacts with his players. His cool, easygoing attitude becomes frantic and controlling. He yells at a French player for posting an Instagram story showing him throwing money around at a nightclub. And he also starts pressing his players harder about making sure they throw matches convincingly. He thinks that obvious moves,

like missing two serves in a row, are sure to draw attention. Gregor used to still pay players even if they messed up a fix. But now he'll fly into a rage. At one point, when one of his recruits screws up, he texts the player's coach saying, quote, I will break his legs.

Iconic. Ha ha ha! Listen, if you're gonna be nuts, like, just be direct. Why beat around the bush? Yeah, yeah, you know what? Text someone I'm gonna break his legs. That makes sense to me. Yeah, honestly, it is a very good line, and I need you to text me that one day. It makes sense that he's so mad because Gregor is going to great lengths to cover his tracks, but he can't be sure that his collaborators are doing the same. And now that his network involves hundreds of people, any small slip-up could potentially bring down the whole operation.

It's like a great poet once said, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. Around the time the match fixing report comes out, Detective Nicholas Borremans attends a briefing at a federal prosecutor's office in Belgium. Nicholas is 45 years old and bald with an icy stare and steely confidence.

He spent much of his career tracking down carjacking rings, but he's intrigued by the meeting today about, of all things, tennis. Belgium's gambling commission is telling the detectives about suspicious bets they've flagged. The bets are being placed on matches held inside the country. The thing that really stands

out is that the bets are on the most obscure matches imaginable. And they aren't usually about the outcome of the entire match. They're on very specific and improbable outcomes in individual sets and points. I think it's so interesting how scams can be revealed if they're simultaneously too specific and then also too broad. This is an example of it getting too specific. I know there's a sweet spot that not many people know about and I've yet to discover. It's hard to stay in the pocket. Well, Nicholas isn't a tennis fan, but something about this potentially illegal activity intrigues

him. And since none of his coworkers are interested in the case, Nicholas volunteers to take it on. He goes all in chasing leads. He finds more than 1,600 accounts at bet shops across Europe related to the suspicious activity. Eventually, he zeros in on a handful of gamblers who place the majority of the bets,

several Armenian immigrants living in Belgium. He also finds out they're reporting to someone known throughout the tennis world as the Maestro. It's a big break, but the Maestro has been so good at covering his tracks that in 2017, after a year of digging, Nicholas hits a wall. Still, none of his colleagues are all that interested in helping out.

He's frustrated, but little does he know that another investigator, all the way across the world, is hot on the Maestro's tail, too. Just when it looks like the Maestro case has run cold, Nicholas gets a call from the Tennis Integrity Unit. That is a real thing. It was created in 2008 by tennis' governing bodies to stamp out match fixing. The person calling is Dee Bain. She explains she's a former detective inspector with the Metropolitan Police in London where she went after match fixers in the world of cricket. But she's also crazy about tennis. And now she works at the Integrity Unit. Dee tells

Nicholas that she heard about his investigation from a source at Interpol. She says her team is about to make a bust that might blow his case wide open. Ever since that BBC and Buzzfeed News investigation came out, Dee and her colleagues at the Integrity Unit have been under a lot of pressure to find tennis cheaters and clean up the sport.

And she tells Nicholas that they think they've got a promising lead. Facebook messages from an Egyptian player named Karim asking another player to fix a match. She's about to go to a Tunisian tournament to confront Karim in person. Nicholas cannot believe his luck. This could be the break he's looking for. After the tournament, Dee calls Nicholas back. She says she and her colleague confronted Kareem at his hotel, and he basically folded immediately. He told Dee everything about tanking matches

for a big-time fixer out of Brussels and recruiting other players to the scheme. She also says a decryption expert has taken a look at Kareem's phone and managed to get the contact info for someone who seems to be the match fixing boss. Nicholas is thrilled. Maybe this belongs to the maestro. Oh boy, this really feels like the walls

are starting to close in. Oh yeah, and when Nicholas gets the phone number, he sees there's no name attached to it, but he can tell whoever used it just flew from Brussels to Berlin. He looks at flight records to see if any of his Armenian gamblers show up, and one name checks out. Gregor Sargasson.

Nicolas gets 10 of his colleagues together, and they start doing undercover surveillance, tracking Gregor's every move. They're taking pictures with a telephoto lens, hoping to catch him in the act. The team follows his almost daily trips to Paris where he meets with players. And before long, Nicolas hits pay dirt. He snaps a photo of Gregor literally accepting duffel bags full of cash from an Armenian contact. Nicolas

suspects that Gregor is using that cash to pay players and make bets. This is exactly the kind of evidence he needed. He's about to send the Maestro's world to its breaking point. It's the early morning of June 5th, 2018. Nicholas is posted up at the police station a couple of hours outside of Brussels. Today, it's a command center overseeing a multi-site raid intended to bring down Gregor's tennis match fixing racket in one fell swoop. Nicolas is listening

into the radio as officers get ready to pounce. That photo of Gregor was all Nicolas needed to get a Belgian court to approve a raid and an arrest warrant. But his investigation doesn't end with Gregor. He and his colleagues plan to arrest 20 other people involved in Gregor's scheme, along with seven Belgian pro tennis players. Nicholas' colleagues radio him to say they've spotted Gregor at his parents' house in his pajamas. As they storm into his room, Gregor lunges for the burner phones on his bedside table. But he's not quick enough. The cops grab him.

They now have their man and their evidence. When police dig into his phones, they discover that he was working on a fix just minutes before they showed up. They arrest Gregor and bring him to jail. Well, if it isn't the consequences of his actions here at last. Also, in your pajamas in your childhood bedroom, that is humiliating.

That's a new low I gotta say. Well, about a week later, Nicholas gets a chance to speak to the maestro himself at a prison in Bruges. Though it's an interrogation, at times it feels more like a brohang. Nicholas later says that Gregor is quote, the kind of guy you want to get a drink with. Gregor might be charming, but all through the interrogation,

he avoids revealing any of his motivations, actions, or operations. He smirks and shrugs off Nicholas's interrogation techniques. Gregor clearly doesn't seem to regret what he did. Nicholas later tells a Washington Post that he thinks Gregor feels like his scam wasn't a crime. It was just being smart. But his life is crumbling around him. Nicholas later tells a Washington Post that he thinks Gregor feels like his scam wasn't a crime,

it was just being smart. But his life is crumbling around him. And after years of rigging the system, Gregor is about to face something he can't control. I'm Alice Levine and I'm Matt Ford and we're the presenters of British Scandal. And in our latest series, Hitler's Angel, we tell the story of scandalous beauty Diana Mosley, British aristocrat, Mitford sister and fascist sympathiser. Like so many great British stories, it starts at a lavish garden party. Diana meets the dashing fascist Oswald Mosley. She's captivated by his politics but also by his plenty good looks.

It's not a classic rom-com story but when she falls in love with Mosley she's on a collision course with her family, her friends and her whole country. There is some romance though. The couple tied the knot in a ceremony organised by a great uncelebrated wedding planner, Adolf Hitler. So it's less Notting Hill, more Nuremberg. When Britain took on the Nazis, Diana had organised by a great, uncelebrated wedding planner, Adolf Hitler. So it's less Notting Hill, more Nuremberg. When Britain took on the Nazis, Diana had to choose between love or betrayal. This is the story of Diana Mosley on her journey from glamorous socialite to political prisoner.

Listen to British Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. And I feel like a, like a Like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a good guy, flying in the face of a crooked system by giving struggling players extra money. And now, reading Crime and Punishment in Prison, he's more convinced of his righteousness than ever. Can you read what he later tells The Washington Post? Yeah, he said, Honestly, it made me proud of what I done. I think that's a bit of a misreading of Crime and Punishment, but also this is an iconic

sentence so I am again kind of on board. Well, despite his lack of remorse, Grigor is released from prison to await trial. It's not until two years later that he's convicted by a Belgian court of money laundering, fraud and leading a criminal organization. He's sentenced to five years in prison. He later told the Washington Post, quote, if the prosecutors knew what I know, there would be many more people on trial.

Around the same time, in November 2023, seven Belgian players connected to Gregor are suspended from the sport. But to this day, it's unclear how many others were involved in the tennis match fixing operation and how high it went. Kareem and his brother Youssef are also banned from pro tennis for life. From what we know, Kareem is now coaching kids in Egypt while Youssef is playing professional

paddle tennis. It's like a combination of tennis and racquetball. Andranik was released from prison in 2021. He now lives in a mansion in Armenia and is rumored to be a part of the Armenian mafia and actively involved with professional soccer. His cousin founded a team called West Armenia and the Armenian Premier League and his father runs it. I'm confident that everything that's happening in that league is totally above board. Yeah, he obviously learned his lesson.

That's why he lives in a mansion. Mm-hmm. Meanwhile, Nicholas continues his investigation, interviewing other players and accomplices involved in the scheme. At one point, he talked to a coach who claimed he only accepted bet money because he'd been working undercover for a BBC journalist.

The BBC denied this and found no evidence to substantiate his claims. The tennis integrity unit ended up giving him a lifetime ban from tennis and fining him a quarter of a million dollars. In an effort to help prevent match fixing, professional tennis announced it would introduce a minimum wage for men and women in the top 250. It's set to roll out this year. The players will be guaranteed at least $75,000 a year,

but it won't affect players ranked even lower, like the vast majority of Gregor's accomplices. To date, tennis gambling remains a massive and growing $50 billion industry. Tachi, I feel like this is the longest you've ever thought about tennis. Am I right? That's not true.

Sometimes the men who play tennis wear very small shorts, and then I think about it for a good long time. But this is probably the most I've ever thought about a non-body-related topic around tennis. Okay, so tennis. Yeah, you know what, you're right. Upon further reflection, I guess my answer is I think about being a pervert a lot, but I don't think about tennis a lot, you're right. Upon further reflection, I guess my answer is, I think about being a pervert a lot, but I don't think about tennis a lot. You're right. Okay. There's something very impressive about this, because it really was like the tennis

didn't matter. He just needed a vehicle for gambling, like creating a gambling ring. Yeah, I think it's an impressive feat to get competitive people to agree to lose on purpose. I think that takes, like, a lot of convincing. I hate to give a man any credit, as you know, but I gotta give him some credit. Yeah, I think he was really smart for preying on people who knew they weren't ever gonna get a shot at being the top. Like, they are technically professionals. They're not making a lot of money. They're doing something they love not making a lot of money. They're doing something they love with not a lot of payoff.

Yeah, they're not gonna bulk at a couple hundred bucks. It's worth it, maybe. Yeah, it is. And also, it helped me learn something that I've been wondering for so long, which is, you know how there's a tennis channel when you're watching TV sometimes? If someone has all the sports channels,

there are tennis channels. And I'm always like, who? Like, is tennis has like all the sports channels, there are tennis channels. And I'm always like, who? Like, what, is tennis happening all the time? And it turns out it is. It's happening right now, probably. Sarah, tennis is all around us. At any moment, there are 400 tennis matches being played and you don't even know about them.

I wonder if this story is gonna make you a better tennis player or a better scam artist, because I know the answer for me. Uh, it's not gonna make me a better anything. This was too complicated. There was so much work involved. There was so much calculating. There were so many moving parts.

Honestly, that he kept it on for that long was kind of impressive. Yeah. I think I could do it. I know I'm bad with details and also I don't like doing hard work, but I think I could do it. I think you could do the charm thing. Like, I think if he hires you to be the person to go up to players

and be like, hey, you like gambling? Yeah. I think you could convince someone to throw a game. Truly, I do. Thank you. It also is probably really hard, maybe as hard to win as it is to strategically lose in a believable way. Like I was thinking about that a lot.

If I was playing a game and I had to do poorly in a very specific way and I'd be like, oh, like just so angry, but like not too angry, at least win a little bit of this or that. It's like, you know, I also wonder, were two players who are both involved in different match fixing kind of playing the same game, you know what I mean? That would be such a cute, like, meet cute. What if we turn this into a rom-com? We both had to lose in the same way and...

And then they kiss over the net! That's how we met. We're both banned from professional tennis for the rest of our lives, and he owes $250,000 to this, like, tennis authority that you've never heard of. But we are in love. I think that's a beautiful story, and more people should tell it, Sarah. I think we found a new way to meet guys.

I'm gonna start going to tennis courts and ask men in their tiny shirts if they like gambling, and then I will trick them into falling in love with me. That's what I learned today. Yeah, same. I think that's really the only lesson here. Correct. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Scamfluencer's ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today or you can listen ad free with Wondery Plus and Apple

podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. This is Game Set Scam. I'm Sarah Hegge and I'm Sachi Cole. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfluencers at wendree.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were a Washington Post investigation by Kevin Seif, Buzzfeed News and BBC's investigation

by Heidi Blake and John Templon, and Christopher Clary's reporting for the New York Times. Josh Terry wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachie Cole and Sarah Hagge. Sarah Enney is our story editor and producer, and Eric Thurm is our story editor. Fact-checking by Meredith Clark. Sound design by James Morgan.

Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesan Sync. Our managing producers are Desi Blaylock and Matt Gant. Jeanine Cornelow and Stephanie Gens are our development producers. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller Blaylock and Matt Gant. Jeanine Cornelow and Stephanie Gens are our development producers. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Puri. Our producers are John Reed, Gazmin Ward and Kate Young. Our senior producers are Ginny Bloom and Jen Swan.

Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marshall Louie and Aaron Oflarity for Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. In the climate ravaged year of 2072, the city of Pura stands as a miraculous green haven,

a geo-engineered paradise that protects fortunate residents from the global catastrophes of heat domes, fires, floods and droughts. Demetria Lopez heads up Pura's public relations, tirelessly promoting the city's idyllic image. But when she stumbles upon a dark secret that if exposed would be the downfall of Pura's existence, she must decide who and what she is willing to protect. From Wondery, the makers of Academy and Dr. Death, The Last City stars actors Reyes Seahorn, Jeannie Tirado, and Maury Sterling. to protect.