Sporting scandals in 2010
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Higgins and his manager, Pat Mooney, a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) board member, were filmed in a sting operation conducted by the News of the World newspaper. It allegedly showed Higgins and Mooney discussing and agreeing to influence snooker games in exchange for payment.
Higgins issued a statement on the same day denying he had ever been involved in match fixing, and said of the meeting, "I didn't know if this was the Russian mafia or who we were dealing with. At that stage I felt the best course of action was just to play along with these guys and get out of Russia". Mooney also said "we were genuinely in fear for our safety".
Since the story first broke in the News of The World on 2 May 2010, there have been serious doubts over the veracity and context of the newspaper's claims.
Higgins was cleared of match fixing on 8 September 2010 following a tribunal. However, he was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute by not reporting the approach the News of The World made towards him. He received a six month ban backdated to the start of his suspension period, keeping him out of the game until 2 November 2010, and fined ￡75,000.
