Antoine Lemarié ordeal brings alleged fake agent trade before Lille court | OneFootball

L'Équipe reports that the case of YouTuber footballer Antoine Lemarié, alleging exploitation by a fake agent, is due before the Lille judicial court on Friday. His 2023 move from Finland to Greece allegedly became a nightmare.

Lemarié, 30, earns about 1,200 euros a month and has built a following on YouTube charting a globetrotting career. He now plays in Andorra’s second tier, having previously turned out in Finland’s third division, Singapore, Australia, England and Cambodia, with Greece’s third tier his worst spell.

He filed a complaint in March 2023, saying a man named Jean, whose first name has been changed, and who ran Fokom Sports Management, arranged a switch to Paniliakos. On arrival he says he received no wages, lived in squalid housing with urine on walls and cockroaches in drawers, and faced threats and violence from staff. With his registration locked at Paniliakos, he paid for his own flight home.

He told officers he never met Jean in person, only by phone, and that Jean presented himself as an agent and intermediary with a website. Social media posts advertised opportunities for young players at little known clubs in Cyprus, Romania and Malta, for fees of a few hundred euros.

A preliminary investigation was opened in 2023 by the Service central des courses et jeux, the SCCJ, into organised fraud, illegal agent activity, intentional violence, concealed work and money laundering. After Lemarié went public, six more players complained, including Géraldo, who left Montargis for Cyprus only to discover no contract awaited him after paying fees and flights.

The proceeds from unlawful agent work were put at 25,000 euros between 2020 and 2023. In November 2023 Jean’s premises were searched and he was held in custody. He is of Cameroonian origin, moved to France in 2017 and is without legal status, he described himself as a sporting adviser who runs player detections, denied responsibility for Lemarié, admitted concealed work due to his asylum paperwork and denied fraud.

Source: L'Équipe