Former umpire charged with betting offences relating to 2022 Brownlow Medal count

Police have charged a fifth man, and added more charges to those faced by former AFL umpire Michael Pell, as part of a sports integrity investigation into irregular betting on the 2021 and 2022 Brownlow Medal counts.

Detectives from the Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit said on Wednesday they had now charged a 34-year-old Oak Park man with 21 offences in relation to wagering on the AFL’s highest individual award.

Former AFL umpire Michael Pell outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court in September.Credit: Alex Coppel

This involves 19 counts of using corrupt information for betting purposes, and two counts of using corrupt information for “betting purposes – communicate information”.

The man has been summoned to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on December 12.

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Pell, 34, has been further charged over allegedly suspicious gambling on the 2022 count. Two extra charges of engaging in conduct that corrupted a betting outcome of an event – communicate information – were added.

He had already been charged with six offences in relation to wagering on the 2021 Brownlow Medal, including use of corrupt conduct information for betting purposes – communicate information, and undertaking a course of conduct to use corrupt conduct information for betting purposes.

He will appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on December 4.

In September, Pell and three other men – his brother Donovan Andrew Pell, Mitch James Lucas and William Michael Forde – appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court facing a combined 102 charges relating to suspicious gambling on the 2021 and 2022 Brownlow counts.

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 declined to 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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