It seems he has form.
On 21 February 2011, Olympiacos beat
Panathinaikos in
Karaiskaki Stadium (2–1), after a controversial, regarding the referee's decisions, After the game, player
Djibril Cissé had a wrangle with Olympiacos' president Marinakis. He was beaten by Olympiakos' fans and stated that he was going to appeal to the
UEFA. The case of Cissé and Marinakis went to the Greek courts,
[83] where Marinakis was found not guilty.
[84]
In 2015, the Public Prosecutor
[85] and the Council of Judges[
citation needed] acquitted Marinakis in relation to the
Koriopolis match-fixing investigation, that begun in 2011, that was launched after
UEFA gave Greek authorities a report citing irregular betting patterns, mostly involving
Greek Cup and
second division games in 2009 and 2010.
[86] He was accused of participating in a match-fixing criminal network
[87] with links with seven countries.
[88] At the time,
UEFA officials said no action was presently being considered against Olympiacos regarding its participation in the
Champions League in the following season, because evidence in the Greek investigation cast no doubt over its 2010–11 league victory.
[89] Marinakis was charged with complicity to commit acts of
bribery and match manipulation,
[90][91] of instigation and facilitating acts of
violence.
[92] Marinakis, along with the president of
second-division club
Ilioupoli, Giorgos Tsakogiannis and others, cooperated so that a group of hardcore Olympiacos fans would travel on 13 March 2011 to a
third division match and provoke
riots to bring about a penalty. The prosecutor's report says that "Tsakogiannis informed [Ioannis]
Papadopoulos that he had made arrangements and Evangelos Marinakis was aware of the plan for Olympiacos fans to cause riots".
[92] Marinakis was acquitted from all charges by the Prosecutor, Panagiotis Poulios,
[93] and the Council of Judges.
[94]
In 2014, Marinakis was acquitted by the Three Members Court of First Instance relatively to the case of entering the referee's (Thanassis Yiachos's) locker room at halftime[95] during the football cup final between Olympiacos and Asteras Tripolis, against football regulations to complain about the decisions taken. Marinakis stated that he went to the referee's locker room at halftime only to wish match officials "good luck". Olympiacos went on and won the match 3–1, after a tense 1–1 at halftime.[96] In 2015 Marinakis was also acquitted by the Three Members Court of Appeals for the same case.[97]
Another investigation which led to the
2015 Greek football scandal, started in 2014 after
prosecutor Aristidis Koreas was given the go-ahead by a council of judges
[98] to make use of secretly recorded phone conversations
[99] that point to the involvement of various sports officials, including Evangelos Marinakis. According to Koreas, "the president of Olympiakos and close associates approached and tried to use policemen, judges, politicians and other powerful figures for their own ends as part of the planning and establishment of a criminal organization".
[98] According to the prosecutor, Marinakis was helped by the President of the Greek Football Association, Giorgos Sarris, to choose specific referees to oversee key games.
[100] He has repeatedly denied all charges:
[101] "These allegations have nothing to do with me and have no effect on me whatsoever," Marinakis said. "There is not one shred of evidence against me."
[102] On 3 October 2014, Aristidis Koreas, though he was replaced as athletic prosecutor, he remained on the case.
[103] Evangelos Marinakis was questioned on 18 June 2015 and he was released on a €200,000 bail. He was also forced to stop being involved in any football activity, as well as he must report to a police station every 15 days.
[104][105] In September 2016, the prosecutor proposed the imprisonment of Mr Marinakis, to which Marinakis responded with a lawsuit against the prosecutor.
[106] In November 2017, the judicial council of the Court of Appeals rejected imposing provisional custody on Evangelos Marinakis and also dropped various charges after deeming them "absolutely groundless".
[107] Marinakis was also resigned from president of the team due to legal reasons, giving his seat to Yiannis Moralis.
[108] On 26 March 2018, Marinakis was vindicated by the Greek Supreme Court. The decision of the Greek Supreme Court confirmed that the allegations against him were unfounded.
[109]
In April 2019, the
Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece decided that Mr Marinakis with other 27, will have a trial for the 2015 Greek football scandal. The final accusations are the felony crime of "match fixing" and creation of a gang, instead of a criminal organization.
[110][111]
On 28 January 2021, the three-member criminal court of appeal has unanimously acquitted Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest owner Vangelis Marinakis and 27 others of match-fixing in a case stretching back several years.
Athens judges ruled that there is no evidence for the two charges attributed to the defendants following their alleged participation in a criminal group including altering the outcome of matches.
[112]
Finally, V. Marinakis was permanently acquitted by the Ethics Committee for the category of match-fixing.
[113]