A-League captain allegedly exploited ties in bet scam
Kat Wong and Alex Mitchell |
A former A-League captain allegedly exploited a power imbalance with his team members when he asked them to earn yellow cards.
Ex-Macarthur Bulls duo Kearyn Baccus and Clayton Lewis admitted they were paid $10,000 each by skipper Ulises Davila for referee-issued cautions for foul play in December 2023.
Their lawyers emphasised the unbalanced relationship between the players and their captain during sentencing submissions at Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
“Davila was not only the captain of the team, but the captain of the scheme,” Baccus’s lawyer Bryan Wrench said on Wednesday.
“He was the one who organised it. He directed it. He continued it.
“He was the one who was revered and admired.”
Davila, accused of acting as a conduit between the Macarthur players and a Colombian criminal known as “J Col”, has not yet entered pleas to nine charges against him.
Baccus, 33, and Lewis, 27 have pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct that corrupts the betting outcome of an event, with their lawyers saying the pair understood their actions were wrong.
Their friends and family members filled half the courtroom as the 27-year-old’s lawyer Gabrielle Bashir SC alleged an “explicit targeting of Lewis with his known weakness as a gambler” and exploitation of a power imbalance between Davila and their client.
The pair say Davila orchestrated 50 suspicious bets in a game against Sydney FC through international wagering platform Betplay.
Davila was booked for delaying play by kicking the ball away, Lewis was cautioned for pushing an opponent in the chest and Baccus earned his yellow for a poor tackle on a Sydney player.
The agreed facts state the winning bets netted a payout of more than $200,000.
All three players were suspended by Macarthur FC after their arrests and Davila and Baccus have since been released from their contracts.
Baccus and ex-New Zealand international Lewis are not accused of placing any bets on the match and the agreed facts confirm the pair did not have knowledge of the wagers.
Lewis’s lawyers also argued there was no evidence he withdrew or used the $10,000 allegedly paid by Davila.
Engaging in conduct that corrupts the betting outcome of an event carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
Lewis’s lawyers have argued their client already suffered significant punishment.
“He has carried the scorn of the nation,” Ms Bashir said.
“It will indelibly follow him for the rest of the life.”
Mr Wrench also stressed his client’s actions were “not a betrayal of the fans … but a betrayal of people who gamble on these matters”.
Baccus’s and Lewis’s matter will resume on September 24, while Davila is due to face court again the day after.
After Clayton and Lewis entered guilty pleas, Macarthur issued a strongly worded statement that said “serious deficiencies” around integrity processes in Australian football needed to be addressed.
“The systems in place are inadequate to protect clubs from risk and lack the responsiveness required to manage issues of this magnitude,” the statement read.
“A comprehensive review and reform of integrity protocols is urgently required to safeguard the future of the game.”
Davila was a bona fide star of the A-League Men, winning the Johnny Warren Medal for best player in the league in 2020/21.
In 2022, the Mexican faced heartbreak as Lily Pacheco, his wife and mother of their two-year-old son, died aged 31.
AAP
