June 4 – The English FA has continued its clampdown on betting rule breakers and match-fixing with the suspension of Swansea City’s player liaison officer Huw Lake and formally charging West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta for match manipulation.
Paqueta player is charged with intentionally influencing matches by seeking a card from the referee to manipulate the betting market – aiming to ensure that one or more individuals could profit from bets.
The FA named Premier League fixtures against Leicester City on 12 November 2022; Aston Villa on 12 March 2023; Leeds United on 21 May 2023; and Bournemouth on 12 August 2023 as the incidents when that have led to the charges.
Paqueta could face a 10 year ban from the sport if found guilty, The deadline for his reponse to the charges was yesterday (June 3).
Additionally, Paquetá faces two charges of violating FA Rule F3, related to the alleged non-compliance with the abovementioned FA Rule F2.
Paqueta issued a statement saying: “I’m extremely surprised and upset to see that the FA have decided to charge me. For nine months, I’ve cooperated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can.
“I deny the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name.”
Insider knowledge
Swansea’s Lake has been suspended from all football and football-related activity for 12 months and fined £1,500 following misconduct in relation to betting.
Lake admitted to placing 2,476 bets on matches between 3 April 2018 and 24 September 2023.
Initially Lake’s suspension was reduced by nine months but on appeal by the FA it was judged that three months was ‘unduly lenient’ and that Lake should serve the full 12 months.
Lake denied using insider knowledge from his role as player liaison officer at Swansea to place bets but admitted to betting on Swansea to lose, but couldn’t recall why.
Lake said he couldn’t remember placing specific bets though said he might have had prior knowledge of team line-ups due to frequent visits to the training ground.
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