Three Lebanese soccer referees pleaded guilty in Singapore on Monday to rigging a match in exchange for sex in a deal with a global company that’s linked to the gambling industry.
Two of the men — Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37 — have been jailed already, Agency France-Presse reported. Sentencing for the third, Ali Sabbagh, 34, who prosecutors think is the brains behind the operation — has been deferred, AFP said.
The two in jail could be released late Monday or Tuesday, Judge Low Wee Ping said in AFP reported. But to Mr. Sabbagh, he said: “I need time to consider your sentence. I don’t, for the moment, accept that you should be sentenced to six months,” AFP reported.
The three were arrested for agreeing to fix an April 3 match between Singapore’s Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal. They were pulled from their jobs before the game started and have been in jail in Singapore since April 4, AFP said.
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