5 more people heard and placed under judicial control from CS Păulești, in the case of match-fixing for bets
Article by Marius Mărgărit – Published on Wednesday, 01 April 2026 23:03 / Updated on Wednesday, 01 April 2026 23:22
After on February 25th there was a first forceful descent of the Police in the “Păulești case”, regarding the rigging of football matches in the 3rd League for betting, another large-scale action took place this morning.
According to the information, the police officers from the Ploiești Municipality Police – Office for Combating Offenses against the Person and Property, under the coordination of the prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Ploiești Court, continued the investigations in a criminal case with the object of committing the crime of fraud.
It is aimed at the manipulation of the results of some matches within the 3rd League, in order to mislead gambling operators, regarding the correctness of the matches and the integrity of the sporting events.
The former runner-up, Florin Pripu, among today's hearings
From the research so far, it appears that in December 2025, several people would have used privileged information regarding the result of a match played by CS Păulești. They thus placed sports bets in a coordinated manner under the guise of legal bets.
Following the investigation, it turned out that a member of the technical staff of the respective formation would have contributed to facilitating the achievement of predetermined results. He would have influenced the composition of the team, thus creating a favorable context to reach the set result.
GSP.ro sources claim that it would be about coach Florin Pripu, who worked at CS Păulești as a second coach during the period investigated by the police.
According to tvinfo.ro, among the other 4 would be two dentists, friends with characters from the club's management. They won amounts between 40,000 and 70,000 lei placing bets on a single match of CS Păulești.
President Vasile Vasile will also follow
Today, the police ordered the detention of 5 people for 24 hours, including Florin Pripu, who were taken to the headquarters of the police unit for questioning.
Later, they were presented to the case prosecutor, who ordered the extension of the criminal action and the taking of the preventive measure of judicial control for 60 days.
The investigations are continued by the police, coordinated by prosecutors of the Public Prosecutor's Office, in order to document the entire criminal activity and establish the facts accurately.
The same GSP.ro sources added that “Vasile Vasile, the president of those from Păulești, will soon appear among those interviewed and, most likely, he will be accused of involvement in these things.” The case has two components, one on the sports side, the other on the criminal side”.
Initially, in February, following 34 arrests, impresarios Claudiu Blaga and Alexandru Cristescu, considered to be the heads of the network, were detained for 30 days.
And two footballers, Gabriel Matei and Marius Sanda, among the main actors in match-fixing for betting winnings, were put under judicial control for 60 days. The targeted match is Victoria Traian – CS Păulești, 4-0.
