Evangelos Marinakis, a Greek businessman known for his large shipping empire and ownership of the English Premier League team Nottingham Forest, faces allegations of attempting to manipulate a football match in Greece. This accusation is part of a defamation lawsuit Marinakis filed in London, which claims that a negative media campaign has been waged against him in the UK.
Marinakis’s defamation case targets Irini Karipidis, the head of the Greek football club Aris Thessaloniki, along with other individuals. According to Marinakis, Karipidis was behind a website that accused him of illegal activities, including match-fixing, drug trafficking, and transporting Russian oil in violation of sanctions, all of which he vehemently denies.
His legal team also claims that the campaign involved a mobile billboard driven around the Nottingham Forest stadium during two 2023 games, which pointed people toward the website containing these accusations.
On the other hand, Karipidis argues that her defense is rooted in truth and has requested the court to cancel the prior decision that allowed Marinakis to sue her outside of England. According to her attorney, Matthew Hodson, the dispute originated when Karipidis’s brother, Theodoros, allegedly declined a request from Marinakis to manipulate a game between Aris and Olympiacos (another team Marinakis owns) in 2023. The game ended in a 2-2 draw, which reportedly angered Marinakis to the point where he allegedly warned Theodoros he “would not leave the field alive” if Olympiacos lost.
In response, Marinakis’s lawyer, David Sherborne, argued that Karipidis raised this allegation in court simply to attract negative attention. He added that her attempt to revoke the lawsuit’s approval is just another strategy to fuel her supposed campaign against Marinakis.
Another individual involved in the case is Ari Harow, once an aide to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Marinakis accuses Harow of facilitating payments that supported this alleged campaign. However, Harow’s attorney, Ali Sinai, stated in court papers that the accusations against Harow should be dismissed as well.
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