According to charge sheets, Michael Pell told three people which players would be awarded Brownlow votes in six games in 2021. He is also alleged to have bet on six games under the account name Lincoln Busby, court documents state. He allegedly placed bets under this name with Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and Neds in September 2021.
The three other men are accused of using other people’s accounts to bet on Brownlow markets “while being in possession of information in connection with the event contingency”. It’s alleged they made illegal bets using 10 different sports betting companies.
Forde’s barrister Heather Anderson said during the hearing that the charges related to about $300,000 in fraudulent betting.
Forde, 35, allegedly used insider information to bet on Brownlow outcomes for four games in 2021 and 17 games in 2022. He is facing 53 fraud-related charges.
Lucas, 32, is charged with passing on information to others and betting on 16 games in 2022. Donovan Pell, 31, is accused of illegal bets in relation to six games from 2021.
The four men remain on bail. The AFL was contacted for comment.
Pell, who began his umpiring career in the Essendon District Football League, was arrested in November 2022 after allegedly leaking Brownlow Medal votes from specific matches in one of the most serious integrity scandals to hit the league. The investigation then widened into the 2021 season when Pell was an emergency umpire.
The suspicious betting was flagged to the AFL by one of its betting partners. This led to an investigation in which multiple agencies discovered irregularities in betting on who would poll the maximum three votes in some games.
The 2021 Brownlow Medal was won by Port Adelaide’s Ollie Wines, while Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps won the 2022 count.
When the story initially broke, the AFL said there was no suggestion of match or spot-fixing and that the breach of the 2022 count did not influence the result.
Police say the maximum penalties for these offences – cheating at gambling and obtaining financial advantage by deception – is a decade in jail.
The AFL has since introduced a $250 payout limit for round-by-round betting on the Brownlow Medal to avoid a repeat of the betting scandal.
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