Tennis, De Minaur investigated for buying fake Covid certificates

On his birthday there is very little to celebrate for Alex De Minaur (n.32 Atp), who ended up under investigation together with other personalities from the world of sport and entertainment for having potentially benefited from fraudulent Covid certifications. According to El Espanol, the 23-year-old from Sydney is currently among 2,200 alleged beneficiaries of vaccination certificates and bogus test results offered by an organization operating through an instant messaging application. De Minaur would have used these documents to participate in the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open, an event that was already the protagonist of the Djokovic case.

THE ARRESTS

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The so-called “Operation Jenner”, which started in France last January, revealed the existence of a group that offered bogus health passes and tests through the Telegram instant messaging app. Police investigations into the Spanish branch of the same group led to the arrest of two people, a woman in Sitges (Barcelona), in charge of collecting customer payments, and a man in Madrid. This allowed the agents to detect the existence of another group, much more organized, based in Spain – where De Minaur trains – but without ties to the previous one. In total, eleven people were arrested for falsifying documents, while another 2,200 people are now under investigation for having collected bogus health records.

METHODS OF PAYMENT

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To get hold of a false negative test it was enough to pay 50 euros to the organization while to obtain a Green Pass customers had two options: to pay around 200 euros to obtain the simple document, or 1,000 euros to be registered in the list of subjects submitted. to a complete vaccination program.

CHARACTERS

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Along with Alex De Minaur, other well-known names in sport and entertainment are on the list of possible buyers of bogus certificates. Among the best known faces are the actors Veronica Echegui, Alex Garcia and the singer Omar Montes.

Alex’s response

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In the evening, the social reply of the Australian tennis player did not take long to arrive, who wrote on Instagram: “I received my first dose of vaccine last summer in London while the second inoculation took place at the La Paz Hospital in Madrid. Today this facility is under investigation for providing some patients with fake covid certificates. I would therefore like to clarify that I have regularly received my second dose and that my certificate is valid. I am not “under investigation” as the media reports suggest, my name is connected to this story only because I was a patient of that hospital, like thousands of other people “.