Digging deep into the "gambling case": Liang Wenbo manipulated nine games and threatened many players, but was rejected by Cao Yupeng and others
The World Professional Billy and Snooker Association (WPBSA) released a 58-page detailed "report" while announcing the results of the handling of the ten players involved in the "gambling case".
The Report is divided into seven parts, including "Introduction", "Enforcement Background", "Factual Background", "WPBSA Conduct Regulations", "Determination of Responsibility", "Reasons for Judgment" and "Penalty Results", which contain almost all the details related to the "gambling case", and is the most important tool for a comprehensive understanding of the "gambling case". However, the content of the report is too cumbersome to be fully reflected in a single push. "Billiards Don't Make a Noise" has distilled the most important elements of the report. From now on, it will be pushed in serial form in chapters.
The following is a compilation of all the key contents related to Liang Wenbo in the sections "Reasons for the Judgment" and "Penalty Results".
In the detailed report released by the WPBSA, Liang Wenbo involved 6 major and 22 small allegations. Of these, 20 minor charges were established and 2 minor charges were dismissed. Of the two most critical allegations of manipulating matches in various forms, Liang Wenbo actually involved the following nine matches (one or more charges per match). It is worth mentioning that Liang Wenbo is very cunning, he has never cheated in the matches he participated in, but through coercion and lure other players, and then achieved the purpose of manipulating the game.
July 24, 2022, European Masters Qualifier, Chen Zifan 1-5 A. Hill
August 9, 2022, English Open Qualifier, Chen Zifan 4-3 M. Onharute
August 26, 2022, Northern Ireland Open Qualifier, Zhao Jianbo 0-4 A. Hill
September 26, 2022, British Open Qualifier, Zhao Xintong 4-1 Browning
August 23, 2022, Northern Ireland Open Qualifier, Cao Yupeng 1-4 D. Emery
September 27, 2022, British Open Round 1, Lu Ning 4-1 Zhou Yuelong
September 28, 2022, British Open Round 2, Chang Bingyu 1-4 J. Jones
September 29, 2022, British Open, Round 2, Xu Si 0-4 J. Trump
October 13, 2022, Scottish Open Qualifier, Cao Yupeng 4-2 Yuan Sijun
Referring to the part of the allegations that were established, the committee found Liang Wenbo's actions to be "particularly shameful", "put pressure on many Chinese players, many of them young and impressionable", and "justified sanctions at the highest level"........ In the end, Liang Wenbo became one of the first players in history to receive a lifetime suspension ticket.
指控4(a/b/c/d)
Manipulating, designing, or participating in manipulation, design
The result or score of a snooker match
Accusation 4-a (established): July 24, 2022, European Masters Qualifier, Chen Zifan 1-5 A. Hill
Li Xing and Chen Zifan both admitted to manipulating and designing the outcome of the match, and the two agreed on the amount of money they received (about £5,000 or £6,000 or equivalent in yuan). The charges against Liang Wenbo were that the money would be paid to Chen Zifan by Li on behalf of Liang Wenbo. Plans to manipulate the game were canceled the day before the race.
Charge 4-b (established): 9 August 2022, English Open Qualifier, Chen Zifan 4-3 M. Onharutae
Both Chen Zifan and Li Xing admitted that the outcome of this match was rigged, and Chen Zifan deliberately lost a round to Onharutai. Chen Zifan said that about two days before the match, Li Xing approached him and offered him £5,000 or 6,000 to manipulate the result. The money will be paid to Chen Zifan by Li Xing's representative Liang Wenbo. However, because Liang Wenbo became the subject of investigation, Chen Zifan did not receive payment. Li Xing admitted in the inquiry that he had received about 10,000 yuan in match-fixing fees, and Liang Wenbo participated in it.
Charge 4-c (established): August 26, 2022, Northern Ireland Open Qualifier, Zhao Jianbo 0-4 A. Hill
Zhao Jianbo admitted that the result of the match was rigged. Zhao Jianbo provided evidence that about 5-10 days before the match, Liang Wenbo approached him at Ding Junhui Snooker Academy and offered him £4,000 to manipulate the result, on the condition that Zhao Jianbo could not win more than two games. After the match, the money was paid to Zhao Jianbo in cash through Liang Wenbo's friends.
Li Xing's testimony was: he accompanied Zhao Jianbo to participate in the competition because Zhao Jianbo's English was not very good, and also gave Zhao Jianbo support; Liang Wenbo found him and Lu Ning and asked them to persuade Zhao Jianbo to manipulate the game.
Lu Ning's testimony was: He suspected that the game was fabricated while watching it live. He called Li Xing to inquire, and Li Xing confirmed this and said that Liang Wenbo was involved in the arrangement. At the end of the game, Liang Wenbo gave Lu Ning a sum of cash as a "hush money". Since Lu Ning owed Zhao Jianbo money, he paid this money to Zhao Jianbo.
The match-fixing generated a profit of £30,000, which was distributed as follows: £9,000 was paid to a friend of Liang Wenbo; £5,000 to Liang Wenbo; £5,000 to Li Xing; £3,000 to Luning; £8,000 to Zhao Jianbo.
Charge 4-D (established): September 26, 2022, British Open Qualifier, Zhao Xintong 4-1 Browning
Asked when asked, Browning said he had agreed with Liang Wenbo that he would be awarded 60,000 yuan to manipulate the outcome of the match. Liang Wenbo gave him 30,000 yuan in advance. However, before the start of the match, Li Xing feared that abnormal betting patterns on the match might be detected, and urged Browning to give up manipulating the results of the match. Bai Langning gave up manipulating the results of the match when he agreed with Li Xing and returned the money to Liang Wenbo.
Zhao Xintong's testimony is that after the match, Bai Langning told him that Liang Wenbo found Bai Langning to manipulate the result of the match.
Charge 4-e (established): September 28, 2022, British Open Round 2, Chang Bingyu 1-4 J. Jones
Chang Bingyu's testimony is that Liang Wenbo called him at about 8 or 9 a.m. on the day of the game and asked him if he wanted to manipulate the result. He was afraid of Liang Wenbo and worried that if he did not obey him, there might be consequences. Therefore, the result of the game was manipulated as planned. Although Liang Wenbo promised him 50,000 yuan, he never received the money.
On December 10, 2022, Chang Bingyu posted a post on Weibo that was later deleted, in which he admitted to manipulating the competition and said: "... On the morning of the game, Liang Wenbo called me in a threatening tone and told me that he had bet a lot of money on my match against Jones without my knowledge. Then he asked me to lose 1-4. I was afraid that he had made so many bets that he would get me in trouble if I refused, so I reluctantly agreed. He said he would give me money later. Out of fear, I ended up losing the game 1-4 as planned...".
指控5(a/b/c/d/e/f/g/h/i/j/k)
Demanding, inducing, inducing, persuading, encouraging or facilitating
The players mentioned below manipulate or plot
The result or score of a snooker match
Charge 5-A (not established), November 25, 2021, British Championship, Yan Bingtao 6-0 Wu Anyi
Mr. Yan claimed he had received an anonymous phone call from a person claiming to be a friend of Mr. Liang and asking Mr. Yan to manipulate the results. Yan Bingtao did not know this person and did not meet him. Based on the available evidence, the Committee is not satisfied as to whether the person calling Yan Bingtao was in fact related to Liang Wenbo or, if so, whether such connection constituted Liang Wenbo's attempt to manipulate or plot the outcome of a particular match. Accordingly, the charge in item 5 (a) has not been substantiated.
Charge 5-b (established): July 24, 2022, European Masters Qualifier, Chen Zifan 1-5 A. Hill
Referring to the details below Charge 4-a, the Commission found that Liang Wenbo contributed to Chen Zifan's manipulation or planning of the outcome of the match.
Charges 5-C (established): 9 August 2022, English Open Qualifier, Chen Zifan 4-3 M. Onharutae
Referring to the details below Charge 4-b, the Commission found that Liang Wenbo contributed to Chen Zifan's manipulation or planning of the outcome of the match.
Charge 5-d (established): August 23, 2022, Northern Ireland Open Qualifier, Yupeng Cao 1-4 D. Emery
WPBSA relied on the testimony of Chinese snooker player Cao Yupeng as evidence. He testified that Liang contacted him via WeChat the night before the match mentioned in the allegations, asked if it was convenient to talk, and then asked Cao Yupeng for a WhatsApp account. On WhatsApp, Liang asked Cao if he could manipulate the match by allowing his opponent to win three sets. Cao Yupeng refused the request to manipulate the results of the game and asked Liang Wenbo not to ask him to manipulate the game again.
Charge 5-e (established): August 26, 2022, Northern Ireland Open Qualifier, Zhao Jianbo 0-4 A. Hill
Referring to the details below Charge 4-c, the Commission found that Liang Wenbo contributed to Zhao's manipulation or planning of the outcome of the match.
Charge 5-F (established): September 26, 2022, British Open Qualifier, Zhao Xintong 4-1 Browning
Referring to the details below Charge 4-d, the Commission found that Liang Wenbo contributed to Browning's manipulation or orchestration of the outcome of the match.
Charge 5-G (established): September 27, 2022, British Open Round 1, Lu Ning 4-1 Zhou Yuelong
According to Lu Ning's testimony during the interrogation, he said Liang Wenbo approached him while they were playing cards two weeks before the match in his accusation and asked if he was willing to manipulate the game. The background is that Liang Wenbo owes Lu Ning money, and Lu Ning is asking for money. Liang Wenbo said he would protect Lu Ning and make sure everything went smoothly. However, Lu Ning rejected Liang Wenbo's proposal. Based on the committee's findings, it was confirmed that Liang Wenbo did make a request to Lu Ning and encouraged Lu Ning to manipulate or plan the results of the designated competition.
Charge 5-H (established): September 28, 2022, British Open Round 2, Chang Bingyu 1-4 J. Jones
Referring to the details below Charge 4-e, the Committee concluded that Liang Wenbo contributed to Chang Bingyu's manipulation or planning of the outcome of the match.
Charge 5-i (not established): September 29, 2022, British Open Round 3, Yuan Sijun 4-3 A. Hamilton
The WPBSA relied on evidence from Chinese snooker player Yuan Sijun to support this allegation. The committee generally found Yuan's testimony unimpressive and unreliable. Specifically, in this allegation, Yuan Sijun testified that a friend of Liang Wenbo personally asked him if he was interested in manipulating the game. However, he went on to say that he had only met the man once and did not know his name or even whether the person had been sent by Liang Wenbo. The committee did not accept Yuan's testimony. Accordingly, this allegation has not been substantiated.
Charge 5-J (established): September 29, 2022, British Open Round 2, Xu Si 0-4 J. Trump
Xu Si proved that Liang Wenbo contacted him through WeChat, asking to add Liang Wenbo's number to chat on WhatsApp. Liang Wenbo then expressed hope that Xu Si would lose the match mentioned in the charges by a specific score and offer 50,000 yuan in return, but Xu Si refused. The Commission received text messages confirming Xu's statement. The committee therefore concluded that Liang Wenbo had wooed and encouraged Xu Si to manipulate the designated match results.
Charge 5-K (established): Scottish Open Qualifier, Cao Yupeng 4-2 Yuan Sijun
Cao's testimony was that on the morning of the match mentioned in the allegation, Cao Yupeng received a message from Liang Wenbo on WhatsApp. At the time, Cao Yupeng's mobile phone was in the hands of his wife, and she knew Liang Wenbo's previous contacts (see details below Charge 5-d) because Cao Yupeng had told her. When she saw Liang Wenbo's message, she was very angry and deleted the message. She told Liang Wenbo not to talk to them about manipulating the game. Both Lu Ning and Li Xing provided testimony consistent with this statement. As a result, the committee found that Liang had recruited Cao Yupeng to manipulate the outcome of the match specified in the charges.
Charge 6
for WPBSA accredited competitions
Bets on results, scores, progress, lines and more
The Committee considered that there was sufficient evidence that Liang Wenbo bet on the outcome or score during the World Snooker Tour (WST). In particular, every manipulation match initiated or involved by Liang Wenbo is based on the idea that Liang Wenbo wants to make profits by betting in advance and using the agreed manipulation method.
Charge 7
Behavior is corrupt
Threaten the public's confidence in the integrity or mere needs of the Tour
Charge 7-a (established): Between September 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022, by "making threats against Chang Bingyu" to persuade him not to assist the WPBSA in its investigation and remove messages related to gambling and corruption misconduct from his phone.
Mr. Liang categorically denied the allegation. In a December 17, 2022, email to WPBSA, Liang claimed that Chang Bingyu was "framing" him.
On December 10, 2022, Chang Bingyu posted an article on Weibo, which mentioned: "... The WPBSA began a collective investigation into the incident. The day before the investigative interview, Liang Wenbo had a friend I didn't know come to me. He drove a car downstairs at my house and told me to go down and say something in the car. When I got to the car, Liang Wenbo's club was in the back seat. Then his friend called Liang Wenbo, and they told me to keep the situation between me and Liang a secret during the next day's questioning. He said I should say I've never manipulated a game before, otherwise I'll be in trouble...". Text messages received by the committee confirmed Chang Bingyu's statements in this article, which are also consistent with Chang Bingyu's statements in interviews and testimony.
Chang Bingyu also confirmed that Liang Wenbo had asked him to delete their conversation after the match with Jamie Jones. Accordingly, the Committee finds charge 7 (a) guilty.
Charge 7-b (established): By "threatening Xu Si" to persuade him not to assist the WPBSA investigation.
The WPBSA relies on Xu Si and text messages allegedly related to Xu Si as evidence. Xu Si's testimony is that Liang Wenbo contacted Judd Trump via WeChat within a week or two of his match with Judd Trump on September 29, 2022, and threatened him with impolite language, shouting at him and telling him to be careful in the next few days.
The text messages that WPBSA relied on were text messages between Liang Wenbo and Yuan Sijun after the match (not Liang Wenbo's communication with Xu Si). Ultimately, the text messages did not indicate that Liang was threatening to Xu Si. The committee also found that Xu Si's description of Liang's conduct was vague and that the allegations were insufficient to substantiate. Accordingly, the Commission considers the allegations against Leung to be fabricated and unfounded.
Charge 8
Charge 8-a (established): On or after September 1, 2022, and once you become aware of the WBSA's investigation, you cover-up, consent or attempt to cover up a breach of the Betting Rules committed by you and others, by deleting information on your mobile phone and/or cloud storage.
Charge 8-b (established): On or after September 1, 2022, and after you became aware of the WPBSA's investigation, you concealed, consented to, or attempted to cover up violations of the Betting Rules committed by you and others by asking other members to delete information on their phones and/or stored in the cloud, namely Browning and Evergreen.
Charge 9
Charge 9 (established): Failure to attend three interviews, and/or failure to provide information requested by WPBSA in its email address to you through WPBSA Players on December 16, 2022, and letters dated November 29, 2022 and January 4, 2023.
On 16 December 2022, the WPBSA sent an email to Wenbo Liang confirming that he had agreed to attend a meeting with Mr More on 7 December 2022 at 8am UK time to conduct an interview as part of the WPBSA investigation, but was unable to attend. Asked Liang Wenbo to instead interview Mr Moore at 11am UK time on 23 December 2022 and requested confirmation of attendance at the meeting by 19 December 2022.
On January 4, 2023, WPBSA sent another email to Liang confirming that Liang declined to attend the interview scheduled for December 23, 2022. Liang was told that the WPBSA was still asking him to attend an interview and asked him to provide a date when he would attend. In the same letter, Liang Wenbo was also asked to provide WPBSA with bank statements of all transactions in his Chinese and UK bank accounts within the past 14 months.
Liang did not provide the WPBSA with a date for the third interview. The Commission further found that Liang did not provide bank statements as required by WPBSA's letter dated 4 January 2023. Therefore, charge 9 is established.
Individual sanctions
We made the following findings on Liang Wenbo:
(1) He manipulated, arranged or participated in manipulating the outcome or score of a game in five snooker matches.
(2) He induced, guided, persuaded, encouraged or assisted other snooker players (including some of the accused players) to manipulate the result or score of the game on nine occasions.
(3) He placed bets on match results, scores, progress, conduct or any other aspect on multiple WPBSA-sanctioned matches between September 1, 2019 and December 31, 2022.
(4) He treated Chang Bingyu with threats, trying to persuade him not to assist in the WPBSA's investigation and deleting information related to the investigation from his mobile phone.
(5) After learning of the WPBSA's investigation, he deleted the message from his phone and asked Browning and Chang Bingyu to do the same.
(6) He failed to attend the interview appointment with WPBSA and did not provide the required information.
We consider Liang Wenbo's behavior to be particularly shameful. As a veteran professional footballer, he has put pressure on many Chinese players, many of them young and impressionable, and his threatening behavior against Chang Bingyu and his failure to cooperate with the WPBSA investigation clearly warrants and justifies the highest level of sanctions.