Latest news with #scandals
Fox News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
BROADCAST BIAS: Networks snooze as top Biden aides take the Fifth on Biden-decline scandal
The evening news shows on the broadcast networks these days aren't always fixated on politics. They often lead their half-hours with frightening weather footage, and turn to Washington about 10 minutes later. But ABC, CBS and NBC can still determine what political scandals should be considered important, and what scandals should be buried and not acknowledged as scandals. The networks blatantly demonstrate their partisanship by treating Republican scandals as urgent matters loaded with historical weight, and dismissing Democrat scandals as either nonexistent or as desperately partisan misinformation. When Democrat and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stacked a "special committee" on the January 6 riot with only two personally picked Republicans who would obey all of her commands, that was "historic" and nonpartisan. All of its hearings were aired live on the broadcast networks every minute, even in prime time. When Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer investigates anything about former President Joe Biden and the Democrats, these networks act like all of their Capitol Hill reporters were laid off. One major scandal of historical import is Biden's mental decline throughout his presidency, and especially at the end, as Democrats refused to consider any primary opponents, trying to push him into another four incapable years. In May, an online national I&I/TIPP Poll found 58% of those surveyed were in favor of hearings (or even criminal proceedings) on the Biden-decline scandal, and only 30% picked "do nothing, it's just politics as usual." All of the so-called scandal cops at the networks are in the minority. The networks failed to move on Monday morning when The New York Times published an eye-opening front-page story. The headline was bland – "Biden Says Autopen Clemencies Were All His" – but within, you could see that Biden was letting his staff make decisions for him. NBC offered 34 seconds on Monday night. The others did not. Early on Monday, published a ludicrous article with the Democrat spin that Rep. Comer has used digital signatures in committee correspondence – as if that's anything like a president being unaware if he pardoned a cocaine dealer. That story was so lame that NBC didn't even put it on "Today" or "Nightly News." It was just MSNBC bait. On Wednesday, Comer's committee dragged in subpoenaed top Jill Biden aide Anthony Bernal. He's a major figure in "Original Sin," the Alex Thompson-Jake Tapper book on hiding Biden's cognitive decline. "Biden's aides would say that she was one of the most powerful First Ladies in history, and as a result he became one of the most influential people in the White House," wrote Thompson and Tapper. They touted Bernal as the "loyalty police" and one of the "protectors of the myth." Bernal is still loyal: he took the Fifth Amendment. "Well, unfortunately, that was quick," said Comer after the deposition ended. "I believe the American people are concerned. They're concerned that there were people making decisions in the White House that were not only unelected but no one to this day knows who they were." ABC, CBS and NBC failed to devote one second to this story. If it pleases President Donald Trump, it's not getting touched. Taxpayer-funded PBS and NPR had no segment. (Fun fact: neither did Jake Tapper on his CNN show that day.) These networks didn't offer that judgment when Trump aides took the Fifth before the Pelosi-picked panel on January 6. That showed rotten contempt for the public! Bernal was not alone: on July 9, Biden's personal doctor Kevin O'Connor repeatedly took the Fifth. In that case, "NBC Nightly News" offered a story. The other networks did nothing. This week, the broadcast networks properly devoted stories to Trump's new diagnosis of a "chronic veinous insufficiency," but that is a routine diagnosis for older people. It in no way compromises his capacity to be president, unlike Biden's growing enfeeblement. In May, an online national I&I/TIPP Poll found 58% of those surveyed were in favor of hearings (or even criminal proceedings) on the Biden-decline scandal, and only 30% picked "do nothing, it's just politics as usual." Of course, there was a Trump scandal to push at these networks this week: a fight between Trump supporters over what would be released by the Justice Department about the late child-sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Among them, the Big Three evening newscasts devoted 20 minutes and eight seconds to Trump's Epstein problems from Monday through Thursday, more than half of it (11 minutes, 43 seconds) on ABC. ABC's Rachel Scott performed the classic spin at the end of her story on Thursday: "And as much as the president wants to turn the page, behind the scenes, this is consuming a lot of time at the White House. His advisers [are] meeting about this, trying to figure a way to move past it, but many Republicans [are] making it clear this is not going away." Scandals are "not going away" when the liberal networks want to inflict headaches on the Republicans. With Democrat scandals, they can't "go away" when they never arrived.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kanye West Reportedly 'Under Huge Financial Pressure' As Insiders Claim 'Crisis Is Worse' Than Suspected
Kanye West is reportedly facing a financial "crisis" as his star power continues to take a hit amid his various scandals. Following his controversial support for Hitler, the "Donda" rapper, who has been banned from performing in major European cities, as well as other locations across the UK and the US, is now said to be scrambling for shows to perform. Kanye West also reportedly lost a staggering $3 million overnight, yet pays his wife, Bianca Censori, "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to make her controversial stunts in public with barely-there clothes. West is reportedly experiencing a crisis in his career following his controversial social media remarks and vocal support for fascism, as a new report claims he is "under huge financial pressure' The "Vultures 1" rapper is scheduled to perform at the Rubicon festival in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, next week. With a 26,000-capacity venue, he likely wouldn't have considered such a gig in the past. However, West seems not to have a choice as he has been told to "stay away" from Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, and Australia due to his pro-Nazi views. Reports suggest both Wembley Stadium and the London Stadium in the UK blacklisted him even before he released his "Heil Hitler" song in May, leaving him to scramble for bookings around the globe. "He's getting his team to phone around desperately asking for gigs, and he is said to be asking for $7 million a night. No one will touch him with a barge pole," a source told the Daily Mail. "Wembley and London Stadium both said: 'No chance, we don't need the protests,' and that was before the single came out.'" The source added, "It's the same story everywhere they have asked. He is banned pretty much everywhere in Europe – either the venues won't touch him or he isn't able to travel there as he cannot get a visa." It remains to be seen how the rapper will benefit from his current business ventures amid his career trajectory. According to the news outlet, his Slovakian show comes with a capacity of 26,000 fans, but even if seats sell for $200, it's very hard to see how the gig can pay the outrageous $7 million appearance fee he's asking for. Music industry insiders said that "the economics make no sense" as the venue cannot possibly recoup its costs unless it's getting a share of the higher-value resale tickets. Things could worsen for West as more than 3,500 people have signed a petition asking the Mayor of Bratislava to bar the rapper from performing, calling it "an insult to historical memory, a glorification of wartime violence and debasement of all victims of the Nazi regime." The petition, which is endorsed by representatives from organizations such as Peace for Ukraine and Cities for Democracy, accuses West of "repeatedly and openly adhering to symbols and an ideology connected with the darkest period of modern global history." The rapper was further described as "one of the world's most famous antisemites" and says it is "unacceptable that Bratislava should be the only city in Europe" to host a performance by West. It stressed that he be allowed to perform, it could attract "radical and extremist groups from Slovakia and abroad." Despite his financial issues, West reportedly still pays his wife, Bianca Censori, "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to put on her controversial outfits, which he often chooses. The couple is known to be quite carefree when it comes to spending, as they rarely stay in the country, often residing in five-star hotels together and apart, despite having a home in Beverly Hills. According to the Daily Mail, insiders claim that West lost more than $3 million overnight in May as his other sources of income closed one after another. The "Carnival" rapper has since seen his billionaire net worth fall to a $400 million evaluation by Forbes following his controversial antisemitic rants in 2022. At the time, West's Yeezy brand lost its lucrative clothing deal with Adidas, as brands like Balenciaga, The Gap, and Spotify also severed ties with him. A source told the news outlet that West is still living like a billionaire, but the money has stopped coming in, adding that he was "badly hurt by the end of the Adidas deal." It's hard to see a silver lining in the situation as the father-of-four is not only losing out on money but also his relationships. West and his publicist, Milo Yiannopoulos, have since gone their separate ways, which has now been followed by his long-time manager, John Monopoly, who has dropped the rapper. Amid reports that he and Censori went through a divorce scare, West also faces several potentially costly lawsuits from former employees bordering on sexual harassment, as well as claims of unfair treatment. He might also never get the chance to fly to Australia to see his wife's family again, as the country's Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, announced last week that the rapper is now banned from Australia due to his controversial views.
Washington Post
04-07-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
How bad corporate culture fuels scandal-making behavior
When I was a student at the University of Michigan in the early 2000s, I attended a talk by legendary General Electric CEO Jack Welch soon after he retired. He was lauded by many as the best CEO of the 20th century, and professors treated him like a visiting head of state. My fellow students, however, were less deferential. One asked why GE refused to clean up the hundreds of tons of toxic PCBs it had dumped for decades into the Hudson River. Welch bristled, dismissed the scientific consensus of PCBs causing cancer, and scolded the audience to appreciate GE's partial restoration of the damaged ecosystem. What stood out to me wasn't just Welch's evasiveness or arrogance — it was that he presented this as common business sense: Corporations are in business for their shareholders — responsibility to the communities they pollute is a secondary consideration, no matter how serious the offense. In 'The Dark Pattern: The Hidden Dynamics of Corporate Scandals,' Guido Palazzo and Ulrich Hoffrage show how such ideas get entrenched and reinforced within corporations, blinding them to their ethical failings. Scandals, the authors argue, aren't rooted in bad people, but result from corporate processes that make unethical behavior feel normal, even necessary. The downfalls of companies like Enron, Theranos and Purdue Pharma were not primarily due to the manipulations of Jeffrey Skilling, Elizabeth Holmes or Richard Sackler, but a function of the systems they oversaw. The authors, professors at the University of Lausanne, in Switzerland, point out that blaming corporate malfeasance on individual 'bad apples' is a comforting lie to distract from deeper problems that cannot be easily addressed by a few firings. They write that at Wells Fargo, one of the companies they use as a case study, more than 100,000 employees engaged in fraudulent activity. In the case of GE, one assumes that hundreds, maybe even thousands, of employees knew about the company polluting the Hudson but said nothing. Palazzo and Hoffrage argue that scandals usually start with the slow, invisible accumulation of unethical decisions until the entire system eventually collapses under its own weight. The book's opening three chapters unpack the key factors that lead to 'the dark pattern' — which the authors define as a corporate culture of ethical blindness and moral disengagement. Among those problems they count rigid ideology, toxic leadership, manipulative language, unrealistic goals and destructive incentives. The book is scientifically grounded, drawing from research on moral disengagement, groupthink and cognitive framing. While the first part of the book equips readers with a new way of thinking about scandals, chapters four through 10 are the real payoff. Each reexamines a well-known scandal, including Theranos (fraudulent blood testing), Uber (predatory market entry), Wells Fargo (widespread fake accounts), France Télécom (employee suicides), Boeing (737 Max crashes), Volkswagen (diesel emissions fraud) and Foxconn (factory worker suicides). Through these examples, Palazzo and Hoffrage show how the cultures that had developed at these companies rendered moral reflection not just difficult but also, in many cases, irrelevant. In their telling, the banality of corporate evil plays out in optimized KPIs, spreadsheets, dashboards and memos. Unethical actions often result not from malice but self-deception and broadly diffused responsibility. It's the everyday workplace routines. It's social pressure from above and below. It's the refrain that 'everyone around me is doing it, too.' Palazzo and Hoffrage's storytelling is brisk and often harrowing. Following privatization, the management of France Télécom (now Orange) wanted to reduce staff by 22,000. But French law made layoffs difficult, so the company relied on forced geographic transfers, unwanted job reassignments and de-skilling to pressure employees to leave 'voluntarily.' These abusive practices contributed to dozens of employee suicides. Workers faced unbearable psychological stress, and cited humiliation and purposelessness in their suicide notes. While I found Palazzo and Hoffrage's perspective on scandals compelling, they focus on corporate culture in a way that tends to obscure the influence of today's economic realities. In almost all of their examples, there is a common engine behind the dark pattern: neoliberal-style capitalism that prioritizes market efficiency, deregulation and shareholder primacy above all else. When the purpose of business is to maximize profit regardless of social cost, ethical shortcuts become market advantages. Palazzo and Hoffrage do acknowledge this, and even end the book with a condemnation of a 'rigid shareholder value ideology.' But in service of creating a generalizable model of scandal, they leave our current economic system largely unexamined. This is a missed opportunity to consider solutions to the public policy and investment practices that enable the dark pattern to continually emerge. Further, while the authors' perspective is a necessary correction to our overemphasis on 'bad apples,' admittedly in some cases individuals behind scandals may warrant closer study. Toxic leadership is, in fact, one of the key factors they identify as leading to ethical blindness. Early in the book, one entertaining passage reexamines Hans Christian Andersen's fable 'The Emperor's New Clothes.' Famously, everyone sees that the emperor is naked, yet no one dares speak up for fear of appearing incompetent or disloyal. The illusion only cracks when a small child, bewildered by the adults around him calls attention to it. But the tailors who initiated the scheme succeed in bamboozling the king and his court because they know which vulnerabilities to exploit: vanity, authoritarian rule, social pressures for conformity. Thus, it's worth considering how con artists can successfully pull the strings of the dark pattern. For instance, McKinsey's involvement in advising Purdue Pharma on 'turbocharging' OxyContin sales seems to follow a similar pattern where the consultants were able to strategically deploy manipulative language as well as unrealistic goals and incentives to propel unethical sales practices. In spite of their penetrating critique, the authors end with cautious optimism. But their prescriptions for avoiding ethical blindness feel modest compared to the scale of the diagnosis. Ultimately, though, the power of the book lies in its insistence that wrongdoing is rarely monstrous. It is mundane, routine, unfolding every day inside cubicles and offices that are recognizable to many of us. Palazzo and Hoffrage have presented a deep understanding of the systems that inevitably lead to misconduct. In doing so, they reframe our most urgent corporate scandals not as outliers, but as warnings from the future we are already living in. Christopher Marquis is the Sinyi Professor at the University of Cambridge and author of 'The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Costs.' The Hidden Dynamics of Corporate Scandals By Guido Palazzo and Ulrich Hoffrage Venture. 323 pp. $30
CNN
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose ministry was toppled by prostitution scandals, dies at 90
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose multimillion-dollar ministry and huge audience dwindled following his prostitution scandals, has died. He was 90. Swaggart death was announced Tuesday on his public Facebook page. A cause wasn't immediately given, though Swaggart had been in ill health. The Louisiana native was best known for being a captivating Pentecostal preacher with a massive following before being caught on camera with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988, one of a string of successful TV preachers brought down in the 1980s and '90s by sex scandals. He continued preaching for decades, but with a reduced audience. Swaggart encapsulated his downfall in a tearful 1988 sermon, in which he wept and apologized but made no reference to his connection to a prostitute. 'I have sinned against you,' Swaggart told parishioners nationwide. 'I beg you to forgive me.' He announced his resignation from the Assemblies of God later that year, shortly after the church said it was defrocking him for rejecting punishment it had ordered for 'moral failure.' The church had wanted him to undergo a two-year rehabilitation program, including not preaching for a full year. Swaggart said at the time that he knew dismissal was inevitable but insisted he had no choice but to separate from the church to save his ministry and Bible college. Swaggart grew up poor, the son of a preacher, in a music-rich family. He excelled at piano and gospel music, playing and singing with talented cousins who took different paths: rock-'n'-roller Jerry Lee Lewis and country singer Mickey Gilley. In his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana, Swaggart said he first heard the call of God at age 8. The voice gave him goose bumps and made his hair tingle, he said. 'Everything seemed different after that day in front of the Arcade Theater,' he said in a 1985 interview with the Jacksonville Journal-Courier in Illinois. 'I felt better inside. Almost like taking a bath.' He preached and worked part time in oil fields until he was 23. He then moved entirely into his ministry: preaching, playing piano and singing gospel songs with the barrelhouse fervor of cousin Lewis at Assemblies of God revivals and camp meetings. Swaggart started a radio show, a magazine, and then moved into television, with outspoken views. He called Roman Catholicism 'a false religion. It is not the Christian way,' and claimed that Jews suffered for thousands of years 'because of their rejection of Christ.' 'If you don't like what I say, talk to my boss,' he once shouted as he strode in front of his congregation at his Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, where his sermons moved listeners to speak in tongues and stand up as if possessed by the Holy Spirit. Swaggart's messages stirred thousands of congregants and millions of TV viewers, making him a household name by the late 1980s. Contributors built Jimmy Swaggart Ministries into a business that made an estimated $142 million in 1986. His Baton Rouge complex still includes a worship center and broadcasting and recording facilities. Swaggart's downfall came in the late 1980s as other prominent preachers faced similar scandals. Swaggart said publicly that his earnings were hurt in 1987 by the sex scandal surrounding rival televangelist Jim Bakker and a former church secretary at Bakker's PTL ministry organization. The following year, Swaggart was photographed at a hotel with Debra Murphree, an admitted prostitute who told reporters that the two did not have sex but that the preacher had paid her to pose nude. She later repeated the claim — and posed nude — for Penthouse magazine. The surveillance photos that crippled Swaggart's career apparently stemmed from his rivalry with preacher Marvin Gorman, whom Swaggart had accused of sexual misdeeds. Gorman hired the photographer who captured Swaggart and Murphree on film. Swaggart later paid Gorman $1.8 million to settle a lawsuit over the sexual allegations against Gorman. More trouble came in 1991, when police in California detained Swaggart with another prostitute. The evangelist was charged with driving on the wrong side of the road and driving an unregistered Jaguar. His companion, Rosemary Garcia, said Swaggart became nervous when he saw the police car and weaved when he tried to stuff pornographic magazines under a car seat. Swaggart was later mocked by the late TV comic Phil Hartman, who impersonated him on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live.' The evangelist largely stayed out of the news in later years but remained in the pulpit at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, often joined by his son, Donnie, a fellow preacher. His radio station broadcast church services and gospel music to 21 states, and Swaggart's ministry boasted a worldwide audience on the internet. The preacher caused another brief stir in 2004 with remarks about being 'looked at' amorously by a gay man. 'And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died,' Swaggart said, to laughter from the congregation. He later apologized. Swaggart made few public appearances outside his church, save for singing 'Amazing Grace' at the 2005 funeral of Louisiana Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, a prominent name in state politics for decades. In 2022, he shared memories at the memorial service for Lewis, his cousin and rock 'n' roll pioneer. The pair had released 'The Boys From Ferriday,' a gospel album, earlier that year. This story was updated with additional information.
The Sun
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Inside tennis world's darkest secrets… Brit Wimbledon star's cocaine shame to rogue dad who tarnished daughter's career
IT'S hotting up at this year's Wimbledon with record-high temperatures of 32.3°C - but it's not just on the court where players feel the heat. Unlike their pristine whiter-than-white outfits, scores of past and present tennis stars have found themselves embroiled in shocking scandals. 11 11 Match fixing, sordid affairs and drug abuse are but a few 'faults' of the players who have graced the London Mecca for tennis fans. Just last week Japanese tennis ace and Former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, 35, withdrew from Wimbledon shortly after issuing a public apology to his wife, who he'd been caught cheating on. Snaps emerged of the former World No 4 leaving his apartment with his mistress, model Azuki Oguchi, who he had a years-long affair with. Kei made a "deep" apology to his wife Mai Yamaguchi and their children - aged four and one - but not before saying sorry to sponsors, fans and tennis chiefs. According to Shukan Bunshun, he said: "I deeply apologise for causing discomfort to everyone who supports me: tennis fans, associations, sponsors, and other related parties, and for their concern and inconvenience due to my dishonest behaviour. "Additionally, I deeply regret making my wife and children feel hurt." Last year Kei was beaten in the first round at Wimbledon by France's Arthur Rinderknech. He is far from alone in straying over the line due to temptation and the pressures of the tour circuit. Here we reveal some of the tennis world's darkest secrets. Cocaine shame British No2 Dan Evans will battle it out in the singles against Jay Clarke today, one year on from being knocked out in the first round last year. The Brummie, now 35, was famed for being such a hell-raiser during his younger years that his funding was cut three times for his poor attitude. The first time was in 2008, for clubbing until 3am before a junior match at Wimbledon, and again four years later for poor performance. "I've calmed down a bit and matured... I wouldn't make those mistakes again," Dan said at the time. Then eight years ago he was slapped with a one year ban after admitting taking cocaine. At the time drug testers found traces of the white powder in his washbag in Barcelona, he was ranked 43 in the world and was in the best form of his life. Evans said at the time: 'It's really important that you know this was taken out of competition and in a context completely unrelated to tennis.' In 2018 he told The Guardian: "It's a shocking drug – and not just in sport; it's terrible in life, it's a life-ruiner... I took it. "I knew beforehand I shouldn't have. It's illegal for one, never mind being a sportsman. If you're taking drugs you're not in the clearest mindset." Abortion row When Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert announced they were getting married, the number one players appeared to be the sport's golden couple. But in 1974 the wedding was called off abruptly at short notice without explanation. Evert, 70, was understandably outraged when Connors, 72, gave his version of events in his memoir, The Outsider, a decade ago. He hinted that Evert, then 19, had fallen pregnant and had an abortion weeks before their planned nuptials - against his wishes. 'An issue had arisen as a result of youthful passion and a decision had to be made as a couple,' he wrote. "Chrissie called to say she was coming out to LA to take care of that 'issue'... I was perfectly happy to let nature take its course and accept responsibility for what was to come." Evert hit back, accusing Connors of using the book to "misrepresent a private matter". Love cheat 11 Three time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe lived up to his 'Superbrat' reputation off the court. His six-year marriage to Oscar winning actress Tatum O'Neal was partly undone by their drug taking and his inability to remain faithful. O'Neal lost custody of her children after their divorce and spiralled into a heroin addiction - but later got clean. In a documentary McEnroe, now 66, admitted that using cocaine 'didn't help' their marriage and 'I have myself to blame for that". He also confessed: 'I don't think infidelity helps. I believe that's both of us. I believe that's the end of the end.' McEnroe added of his drug-taking: "These days they take performance enhancing drugs. We were taking performance detracting drugs. Putting smoke in your mouth isn't the best thing." Over the years, he would later joke that 37 therapists were unable to solve his anger issues. Rogue dad Peter Graf was credited with shaping the career of German tennis legend Steffi Graf - and then tarnishing it with one scandal after another. The problems began in 1990 when a magazine claimed Peter had enjoyed passionate clinches with a naked model 30 years his junior. He admitted at the time: 'If it had not been for this affair Steffi would still be number one in the world.' A year later Peter reportedly hit a tennis fan on the arm while watching his daughter play in the French Open. Then in 1997, he was sentenced to two years in jail for evading £5million in tax on her earnings. After winning 22 Majors, Steffi retired from tennis in 1999 aged 30, while ranked as the world No3. Peter died from pancreatic cancer in 2013 aged 75. Mental breakdown 11 American Jennifer Capriati was the youngest ever seeded player at Wimbledon when she starred at the Grand Slam event in 1990, aged just 14. But the pressure of playing at the top level so young proved to be too much. At the age of 18 she was arrested for shoplifting and possessing cannabis. She said 'Mentally, I just lost it. I really was not happy with myself, my tennis, my life, my parents, my coaches, my friend. 'When I looked in the mirror, I actually saw a distorted image: I was so ugly and fat, I just wanted to kill myself, really.' She retired from the game in 1999, having won three Grand Slam titles. Covidiots 11 Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic was one of several top tennis stars who were slammed for partying during the pandemic. While the official tennis tours were on pause to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, Djokovic - who was staunchly 'opposed to vaccination" from Covid-19 - arranged a series of exhibition matches in 2020. Alex Zverev, Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov were filmed clubbing with Djokovic at a cabaret club in the Serbian capital Belgrade during the tour. When a video surfaced of him dancing in the nightclub, Djokovic faced backlash from fans and fellow players. Shortly afterwards Dimitrov tested positive for coronavirus. US player Andy Roddick tweeted: "Apparently there's a pandemic..." in response to photos of the exhibition event. Doping scandal A dark shadow was cast over Maria Sharapova 's glittering career when she confessed to taking meldonium for a decade. The Russian-born tennis star, whose five Grand Slam titles include one at Wimbledon, tested positive for the performance enhancing substance while playing in the Australian Open in January 2016. But that was only three weeks after meldonium, which aids blood flow, had been outlawed in sport. Sharapova was banned for 15 months and returned to competitive tennis in 2017 before retiring three years later. Now 38, she retired in 2020 after losing in the first round of the Australian Open. Match fixing Daniel Koellerer, who turned professional in 2002, became the first tennis player to be banned for life in 2011 for attempted match fixing. The Austrian, now 41, was found to have invited other players to fix games on five occasions between October 2009 and July 2010. He was fined £63,041 - though this was lifted on appeal. Koellerer reached a career-high ranking of 55 in October 2009.
