A criminal organisation, whose members are accused of systematically using an NGO association to commit felony-level fraud against individual donors as a business and embezzling funds from beneficiaries of fundraising campaigns, has been dismantled by the Sub-Directorate for Combating Organised Crime in Northern Greece. Some of the illicit proceeds were allegedly used to fix football matches and fund football clubs.
According to a statement, a large-scale police operation was carried out yesterday morning in various parts of the country, coordinated by the Economic Crime Division. The operation was conducted with the assistance of officers from the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, the Northern Greece Sub-Directorate for Criminal Investigations and the Police Directorates of Piraeus, Acarnania, Magnesia, Pieria, Corinthia, Larissa, Elis, Trikala, Chania, Imathia, Arta, the First and Second Dodecanese, Kavala, Drama, Zakynthos, Rhodope, Euboea, Kozani, Phthiotis and Arcadia. Six members of the organisation were arrested during the operation.
A case file was opened against them on charges including, as applicable, participation in a criminal organisation, felony-level fraud, felony-level embezzlement, money laundering, and violations of legislation on amateur and professional sport, in conjunction with bribery and accepting bribes to manipulate the outcome of a match.
The investigation followed a complaint about the transparency of the association’s operations. A thorough police and financial investigation by the Economic Crime Division was then carried out on the orders of a prosecutor.
The investigation found that the criminal organisation was structured into two subgroups, with distinct areas of criminal activity and one member in common, who linked the two.
The first subgroup, comprising three members — a 37-year-old man, a 35-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man — had been formed by at least October 2018 to obtain illicit financial gain by systematically defrauding members of the public. To do so, they used an NGO association as a vehicle to collect donations to support children suffering from serious illnesses or disabilities.
However, the fundraising campaigns were conducted without the legally required permit, and the association’s actual purpose differed from the one it presented publicly. Investigators found that only a small proportion of the money raised reached the beneficiaries, while the 37-year-old man and the 35-year-old woman unlawfully appropriated most of it.
According to a statement from the Hellenic Police (ELAS), members of the subgroup chose children suffering from serious illnesses, mainly various forms of cancer, as beneficiaries of the fundraising campaigns in order to lend credibility to their activities and exploit the public’s sympathy.
They then posted on social media about the children’s health problems and their need for financial support, including costs for medical procedures, hospitalisation, travel, living expenses and temporary accommodation for the children and their families, while also publishing photographs of them.
The donors included well-known artists, athletes and businesspeople. The organisation’s members publicised their donations to bolster the association’s credibility and attract more donors. Cross-checks identified a total of 92 fundraising campaigns for 74 beneficiaries, 55 of whom have been identified.
The investigation found that, among other things, members of the subgroup used different photographs and details of beneficiary children in repeated fundraising campaigns to maximise donations and illicit financial gain, concealing from prospective donors that other campaigns had already been run for the same child.
They also presented medical procedures and hospitalisation as necessary expenses even when they were in fact covered by insurance providers, significantly overstated the cost of medical procedures or hospitalisation, and announced that some donations would go towards supporting hospitals, although no corresponding payments were made.
One example involved members of the organisation using various methods to cause the deactivation of a bank account belonging to the mother of a child with cancer, who had chosen to raise donations independently of the association.
Specifically, after depositing money into her account, they lodged a fraud complaint with the bank and then offered to help her, ultimately seeking to steer her back towards running a fundraising campaign through the association.
In parallel, as part of the financial investigation, which was conducted with the assistance of the Authority for Combating Money Laundering, investigators examined 29 bank accounts and accounts held with payment institutions in Greece and abroad, and analysed more than 246,000 account transactions.
Analysis of the financial data showed that, between 2018 and 2026, more than €5,800,000 was credited to the association’s accounts and personal accounts belonging to the 37-year-old man.
The total amount collected in cash through events and donation boxes at various locations across the country remains unclear, as does whether the money was deposited into accounts linked to those involved or remained in cash.
The financial investigation found that donations were deposited both into the association’s bank accounts and into the 37-year-old man’s personal accounts through the IRIS service.
Money that was not passed on to the beneficiary children’s families was either withdrawn and redeposited into the personal accounts of those involved, transferred between their accounts, used to cover their personal expenses or channelled into accounts belonging to shell companies under the guise of legitimate transactions.
The illicit proceeds afforded the organisation’s members a luxurious lifestyle. The financial investigation identified, among other things, spending on luxury branded consumer goods, stays at luxury accommodation, restaurant meals and expenses for a food-service establishment.
The investigation also found that the organisation’s members, acting according to a coordinated plan, had developed a complex system for moving and laundering illicit proceeds, aiming to make the criminally obtained funds appear legitimate and distance them from their original illegal source.
As part of this, members of the first subgroup, among other things, withdrew and redeposited cash to make it harder to trace its origins; made successive transfers between personal and corporate bank accounts; acquired movable assets, including cars and luxury consumer goods, without sufficient justification from their declared income; regularly used gambling and online betting to present sums as winnings from legitimate betting companies; used shell companies and issued fictitious tax documents; and funded football clubs through informal, off-the-books transactions.
Investigators found, for example, that the 37-year-old man had deposited more than €2,600,000 into betting accounts and withdrawn more than €2,000,000. They also identified two shell companies and a fictitious sole proprietorship through which fake tax documents were issued to make flows of illicit proceeds appear to be legitimate corporate transactions. A total of nine fictitious tax documents, worth €149,700, were identified.
The investigation further found that, during the 2024-2025 football season, the 37-year-old man, while acting as a behind-the-scenes administrator and financier of a football club, placed 62 bets on matches involving the team, several of them on its defeat, and made a profit in some cases.
Second subgroup accused of fixing football match results
The second subgroup was found to have been formed by at least September 2026 and comprised four members: the 37-year-old man from the first subgroup, as well as a 43-year-old man, a 35-year-old man and a 38-year-old man. They allegedly engaged in fixing football match results, both to favour a particular amateur football team and secure its promotion to the Gamma Ethniki, and to make illicit profits by betting on fixed matches.
The investigation found that the second subgroup’s activities were funded by illicit proceeds from the first. The 37-year-old man had also allegedly provided more than €250,000 to fund two football clubs, where he acted as a behind-the-scenes administrator and financier. The funding was provided through informal, unofficial, off-the-books transactions, with cash payments to players, technical staff and suppliers and no legally required tax documents being issued.
In terms of their methods, members of the second subgroup sought to influence the outcome of football matches through payments, in order to secure favourable refereeing for a particular team. The investigation found that the 37-year-old man and two other subgroup members, who held key positions in the organisation of football matches, had agreed to secure favourable treatment for that team during the current season.
One of the two members had allegedly agreed, in return for €300 to €500 per match, to fix games in favour of the team, with particular focus on matches against its direct rivals for promotion. The investigation also identified a case in which €1,000 was paid to the two members of the organisation to improperly influence the outcome of a match in favour of the same team.
Finally, investigators examined a match in the under-19 football championship in which the 37-year-old man, after receiving information from another member of the second subgroup, placed in-play bets and made illicit profits. He also informed friends so they could place similar bets. The investigation has found no evidence so far that the teams involved in the match were implicated in fixing its result.
Searches of homes and vehicles, as well as personal searches, uncovered and led to the seizure of, among other things, eight mobile phones, two laptop computers, a computer system unit, portable digital storage devices, a large number of printed documents, written records and handwritten notes, and two passenger cars as assets derived from money laundering.
Also seized were seven bags and two wallets from designer fashion houses, three watches from well-known brands, a book of blank bills of exchange, 14 bills of exchange worth a total of €169,395, a cheque for €48,150, a private agreement for an interest-free loan of €52,000 and €18,330 in cash.
During the police operation, the parents of 34 beneficiary children were located and interviewed. A combined assessment of their statements and the financial data found that, while the corresponding donation deposits totalled €3,940,692, the families had received about €1,111,176 in total, putting the illicit financial gain at approximately €2,829,516.
The Authority for Combating Money Laundering also ordered the freezing, as applicable, of bank and betting accounts belonging to the 37-year-old man and the 35-year-old woman, as well as accounts belonging to the NGO association in Greece and abroad.
The suspects were brought before the Thessaloniki Prosecutor’s Office of First Instance, where felony charges were brought against them. They were referred to the First Regular Investigating Judge in Thessaloniki to give their statements and were granted until next week. They remain in custody until then.