In 2008, professional tennis was taking a huge beating in the court of public opinion.
Increasingly, players were deliberately losing matches in return for huge paydays from gamblers who were wagering heavily on underdog opponents.
The fraud was particularly prevalent in Europe, where betting on sports is commonly legal and lightly regulated. Two former London police detectives specializing in corruption said in a report that gamblers likely profited from 45 matches played internally over five years.
“We were dealing with international evil forces who were fixing these matches for money, and the players feared retribution,” said Jacksonville attorney Stephen Busey, whose firm represents the Ponte Vedra Beach-based Association of Tennis Players.
Because of his lengthy record of handling ATP doping cases, Busey was pegged to draft rules that will be enforced by a newly formed investigative team representing the four governing bodies of professional tennis.
“There was a discussion among the governing bodies about coming up with uniform rules, and they needed somebody to draft them. And, (ATP, Americas CEO) Mark (Young) said, ‘Steve is in the other room; he can do that,’” said Busey.
Young said Busey’s task was especially unenviable because is a rarity among the Association of Tennis Professionals, International Tennis Federation, Women’s Tennis Association and Grand Slam Committee.
“We are competitors with each other and there have been times where there has been distrust,” said Young.
But the chair of Smith Hulsey & Busey served an ace, Young said.
“Steve clearly gained the confidence of everybody involved, and that was the beginning of the collaboration that we continue to have today,” said Young, a former Smith Hulsey & Busey attorney, himself.
“We’re an international sport and gambling is a huge international practice,” Young said. “We believe that we were out there in front, when you compare us to other professional sports.”
Today, Busey and his firm continue to help guard professional tennis’s integrity by prosecuting players implicated in match-fixing cases by the Tennis Integrity Unit.
While particulars of the cases typically remain private, in January, the international Court of Arbitration for Sport uncharacteristically published intricate details of the most recent case Busey prosecuted.
Spanish player Guillermo Olaso, then ranked No. 232 in the world, had performed conspicuously poorly in a first-round tournament loss to an unranked player in November 2010 in Astana, Kazakhstan. A bookmaker’s tip triggered an investigation.
After being prosecuted by Busey, Olaso was found guilty of corruption and failing to report being approached by people who provide inside information or influence the outcome of any aspect of a match.
“Irregular betting patterns had been flagged to the TIU in advance of the match, with bets having been placed on the lower-ranked player to win,” the arbitration court said in a statement.
The case, heard in Switzerland, was the fourth prosecuted by Busey since 2009. Olaso appealed the integrity unit’s decision and lost in a September court ruling.
“When a player plays in a tournament, he signs a document and literally agrees to comply with the rules, and the rules provide for this process,” Busey said.
Olaso is banished from tennis for five years. The penalty can be shortened by 18 months with the early payment of a $25,000 fine.
Tennis is particularly susceptible to cheating because it’s easier for a single player, or even a doubles team, to throw a match than a team with more players.
“The sport of professional tennis is really dependent upon the public having confidence that the game is clean,” Busey said. “And, so, it is very much in the interest of the governing bodies to do everything they can to assure that there is no fixing going on in the games.”
Busey said that crediting him with contributing to professional tennis having more integrity “would be giving me entirely too much credit.”
Still, he said he’s pleased to be a part of the governing bodies’ efforts to police themselves.
“They are the ones that are doing it, and they are the ones that are putting up the money to do it,” he said. “What’s particularly satisfying is that, ordinarily, you wouldn’t expect a Jacksonville law firm to be in a role on this stage in professional sport worldwide.”