Post by a more piratey game on Jan 17, 2020 18:11:38 GMT
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/17/football-sale-agents-manager-sentenced-corruption-scandal/
Two players’ agents and a club manager have been condemned by a judge for their willingness to use bribery and corruption for financial gain as he handed them a total of four and a half years suspended sentences for their part in a scandal which shocked the game.
The three had been convicted of bribery charges last month, after an investigation by The Daily Telegraph exposed their activities.
Giuseppe ‘Pino’ Pagliara, Dax Price and Tommy Wright were found guilty of soliciting and accepting bribes in order to gain influence in the selection, management and ownership of players.
The three men had their sentences suspended and will not spend any time behind bars only because of what His Honour Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC described as a set of “wholly exceptional set” of personal circumstance and family responsibilities.
Pagliara, 64, of Bury, Greater Manchester, who the judge said played a “leading role” in the offences, was sentenced to two years concurrently for each of two counts of paying and facilitating a bribe.
The sentence was suspended for two years, with Pagliara having to undertake 300 hours of unpaid work in the community and subjected to a 7pm to 7am curfew.
Judge Pegden said he considered the fact that Pagliara had "falsely blamed the Daily Telegraph and its journalists" by suggesting in TV interviews that the paper had induced him to behave corruptly to be an aggravating factor in his case.
His business partner Price, 48, of Sittingbourne, Kent, was sentenced to 18 months concurrently for each of two counts of paying and facilitating a bribe, suspended for 18 months, with 250 hours unpaid community work and a curfew of 8pm to 6am.
Tommy Wright, 53, the former assistant manager of Barnsley FC, was sentenced to 12 months concurrently for each of two counts of accepting a bribe, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay back to The Telegraph the £5,000 he had accepted as a bribe and to pay £12,000 costs.
No costs were awarded against Pagliara and Price after the court heard they were now effectively penniless.