Sports
See also:
2015 Greek football match-fixing scandal
On 21 February 2011, Olympiacos beat
Panathinaikos in
Karaiskaki Stadium (2–1), after a controversial, regarding the referee's decisions, game. After the game, player
Djibril Cissé had a wrangle with Olympiacos' president Marinakis. He was beaten by Olympiakos' fans and stated that he was going to appeal to the
UEFA. The case of Cissé and Marinakis went to the Greek courts,<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>104<span>]</span></a> where Marinakis was found not guilty.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>105<span>]</span></a>
In 2015, the Public Prosecutor<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>106<span>]</span></a> and the Council of Judges<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>107<span>]</span></a> acquitted Marinakis in relation to the
Koriopolis match-fixing investigation, that begun in 2011, that was launched after
UEFA gave Greek authorities a report citing irregular betting patterns, mostly involving
Greek Cup and
second division games in 2009 and 2010.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>108<span>]</span></a>
In 2014, Marinakis was acquitted by the Three Members Court of First Instance relatively to the case of entering the referee's (Thanassis Yiachos's) locker room at halftime<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>109<span>]</span></a> during the football cup final between Olympiacos and
Asteras Tripolis, against football regulations to complain about the decisions taken. Marinakis stated that he went to the referee's locker room at halftime only to wish match officials "good luck". Olympiacos went on and won the match 3–1, after a tense 1–1 at halftime.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>110<span>]</span></a> In 2015 Marinakis was also acquitted by the Three Members Court of Appeals for the same case.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>111<span>]</span></a>
Another investigation which led to the
2015 Greek football scandal, started in 2014 after
prosecutor Aristidis Koreas was given the go-ahead by a council of judges<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>112<span>]</span></a> to make use of secretly recorded phone conversations<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>113<span>]</span></a> that point to the involvement of various sports officials, including Evangelos Marinakis. According to Koreas, "the president of Olympiakos and close associates approached and tried to use policemen, judges, politicians and other powerful figures for their own ends as part of the planning and establishment of a criminal organization".<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>112<span>]</span></a> According to the prosecutor, Marinakis was helped by the President of the Greek Football Association, Giorgos Sarris, to choose specific referees to oversee key games.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>114<span>]</span></a> He has repeatedly denied all charges:<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>115<span>]</span></a> "These allegations have nothing to do with me and have no effect on me whatsoever," Marinakis said. "There is not one shred of evidence against me."<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>116<span>]</span></a> On 3 October 2014, Aristidis Koreas, though he was replaced as athletic prosecutor, he remained on the case.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>117<span>]</span></a> Evangelos Marinakis was questioned on 18 June 2015 and he was released on a €200,000 bail. He was also forced to stop being involved in any football activity, as well as he must report to a police station every 15 days.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>118<span>]</span></a><a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>119<span>]</span></a> In September 2016, the prosecutor proposed the imprisonment of Marinakis, to which Marinakis responded with a lawsuit against the prosecutor.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>120<span>]</span></a> In November 2017, the judicial council of the Court of Appeals rejected imposing provisional custody on Marinakis and also dropped various charges after deeming them "absolutely groundless".<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>121<span>]</span></a> Marinakis was also resigned from president of the team due to legal reasons, giving his seat to Yiannis Moralis.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>122<span>]</span></a> On 26 March 2018, Marinakis was vindicated by the Greek Supreme Court. The decision of the Greek Supreme Court confirmed that the allegations against him were unfounded.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>123<span>]</span></a>
In April 2019, the
Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece decided that Marinakis, along with the other 27, will have a trial for the 2015 Greek football scandal. The final accusations are the felony crime of "match fixing" and creation of a gang, instead of a criminal organization.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>124<span>]</span></a><a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>125<span>]</span></a>
On 28 January 2021, the three-member criminal court of appeal unanimously acquitted Marinakis and 27 others of match-fixing, in a case stretching back several years.
Athens judges ruled that there is no evidence for the two charges attributed to the defendants, following their alleged participation in a criminal group including altering the outcome of matches.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>126<span>]</span></a>
Finally, Marinakis was permanently acquitted by the Ethics Committee for the category of match-fixing.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>127<span>]</span></a>
AEK and Veria football player Nikos Georgeas was sentenced to six months in prison by the Three-member Misdemeanor Court of Athens for perjury regarding the Olympiacos - Veria match in January 2013.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>128<span>]</span></a>
In October 2024, he was banned for five matches after spitting at match officials after his team Nottingham Forest lost 1–0 in their Premier League match against
Fulham.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>129<span>]</span></a> Marinakis claimed that the incident was unintentional as he had developed a cough from smoking cigars, but an independent regulatory commission refuted his claim on review of security camera footage.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>130<span>]</span></a>
Alleged drug trafficking
A Greek drug trafficking investigation that started in 2014, regarding
Noor 1, a ship owned by Pantelis Kalafatis, was investigated by the
Greek Coast Guard, the DEA and the Greek judicial authorities and culminated in the conviction of various individuals and two arrest warrants for Turkish nationals.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>131<span>]</span></a><a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>132<span>]</span></a>
In March 2018, Marinakis was charged with drug trafficking.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>133<span>]</span></a> The accusations against Marinakis were described as "very serious charges" following an investigation after the tanker
Noor 1 was intercepted at the Greek port of
Piraeus carrying 2.1 tonnes of heroin in 2014.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>134<span>]</span></a> According to the jailed co-owner of
Noor 1, Efthymios Yiannousakis, the vessel had in fact carried an additional ton of heroin (worth $70 million) which was unloaded on the island of Crete and trafficked to mainland Europe before Greek authorities managed to intercept the rest of the cargo. The judicial council of the Piraeus Lower Court touched on all related issues and ruled that the prosecutor's order was not justified.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>135<span>]</span></a>
Nottingham Forest F.C. chairman Nicholas Randall wrote an open letter to supporters reaffirming his support for Evangelos Marinakis. Randall confirmed the matter was under investigation but that "there is no 'charge' against Marinakis and no 'prosecution' is in process."<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>136<span>]</span></a>
In January 2021, the judge came to the conclusion that there was no evidence implicating Marinakis, and therefore concluded his investigation.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>137<span>]</span></a> The Piraeus Appeals Prosecutor disagreed with the investigator's proposal and returned the case file for further investigation requesting the conduct of additional investigative acts, a proposal with which the investigator disagreed. The dispute was called upon to be resolved by the judicial council, which of its own volition decided that the interrogation should continue, now separated from the Turkish financiers and traffickers of the heroin.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>138<span>]</span></a>
In January 2025, the Piraeus Magistrate's Council of Judges ruled that there was insufficient evidence to press charges against Marinakis and others, bringing the investigation to an end after six years. The court referenced reports from the Financial Police Directorate and the DEA which found no link between Marinakis and the financing of the heroin shipment aboard the Noor 1. The court also reviewed various witness testimonies including that of journalist Alexander Clapp, stating that the evidence cited in his article "The Vampire Ship" and submitted to the investigation was contradicted by the case file and considered unreliable.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>139<span>]</span></a>
Political influence
Marinakis, along with a few other businessmen<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia">a</a>, was labelled an oligarch by
Alexis Tsipras and the
former Syriza government due to his significant political influence in Greece, especially through media acquisitions such as
Mega,
ΔΟΛ,
Eleftherotypia and the "Argos" distribution agency.<a href="
Evangelos Marinakis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>140<span>]</span></a> Initially a supporter of
Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the
New Democracy government, Marinakis later had disagreements with them, particularly due to a wiretapping scandal involving allegations of government surveillance on his associates