Nottingham Forest owner sues Greek rival in British High Court over alleged 'smear campaign' which accused him of 'match-fixing, extortion, fraud and arson'

The owner of Nottingham Forest FC is suing a Greek football rival for more than £2.1million in a High Court libel claim over an alleged 'smear campaign'. Shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Greek Super League side Olympiacos, is suing Irini Karipidis, the owner of league rivals Aris, over 'false' allegations of 'match-fixing practices including extortion, fraud and arson'. Ms Karipidis allegedly accused Mr Marinakis of being involved in match-fixing, breaching sanctions related to the transporting of oil through his shipping companies and being involved in a high-profile drug trafficking case in Greece. Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is suing a Greek football rival for more than £2.1million over 'false' allegations of 'match-fixing practices including extortion, fraud and arson' Irini Karipidis allegedly accused Mr Marinakis of being involved in match-fixing, breaching sanctions related to the transporting of oil through his shipping companies and being involved in a high-profile drug trafficking case in Greece David Sherborne, for Mr Marinakis, said in written submissions: 'The allegations which Mr Marinakis complains of are completely untrue and nothing in the defendants' evidence comes anywhere close to substantiating them. ' involved false allegations highly defamatory of Mr Marinakis, making accusations that he was guilty of being leader of a criminal organisation, guilty of match-fixing practices including extortion, fraud and arson, as well as there being strong grounds to suspect him of deep and active involvement in international heroin trafficking to hypocrisy and cynicism on his part in publicly criticising the Russian Federation's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.'