Professional Footballer Acquitted of Conspiracy to Cheat at Gambling
Criminal Law
On 8 May 2026, Magistrate Peter Yu acquitted a professional footballer charged with conspiracy to cheat at gambling. The defendant was represented by Randy Shek in HKSAR v. Brian Fok & Ors (ESCC 438/2024).
In what was described as “one of the most high-profile football corruption cases in Hong Kong in recent years”, the ICAC instigated prosecution against three professional footballers and a betting agent for “offering an advantage to an agent” and “conspiracy to cheat at gambling”. It was alleged against these defendants that they had offered advantages to other professional footballers, and conspired to fix the results of 30 football matches in which the Happy Valley Athletic Association and/or Central & Western District Recreation & Sport Association participated in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, and further that they had placed bets on those matches with overseas bookmakers.
The evidence in this case involved tens of thousands of instant communication messages that were exchanged between the defendants and a prosecution witness, as well as highly technical expert evidence on how movements of betting odds at various overseas bookmakers indicated match-fixing activities. After a 16-day trial, Magistrate Peter Yu convicted all defendants except Randy’s client.
Randy Shek was instructed by Messrs. Ho Kan Lawyers. He represented the 4th Defendant, Mr. To Chun Kiu.
Press links:
Offside.hk: https://www.offside.hk/others/brian-fok-and-two-others-convicted-in-match-fixing-scandal/#google_vignette
South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3352949/3-convicted-hong-kongs-largest-football-match-fixing-scandal-years
Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-premier-league-betting-match-fixing-699dac6967a4fbc8da30fc9405732482
Randy Shek
“Randy is a highly experienced counsel in the criminal law practice. He offers pragmatic and robust advice to clients and achieves favourable outcomes for them.”
— Legal 500 Asia-Pacific 2023-2026: Regulatory, Investigations and Crime: Leading Juniors
Randy’s main areas of practice include criminal law, human rights and civil liberties, and public law. He also accepts instructions for civil cases involving injunctions, family law, and land law.
While he regularly receives instructions to prosecute on behalf of the Department of Justice, Randy is mainly a criminal defence counsel. Randy has a long and established track record for defending cases arising from high profile public order events and cases involving human rights and civil liberties dimensions. He is also particularly experienced in handling cases involving young offenders.
Moreover, he is also experienced in handling conventional crime, white collar crime, SFC investigations, and serious crime, including sexual offences and murder. He has conducted trials and appeals in all court levels, both as led junior and on his own right.
Find out more from Randy’s profile.
This article was first published on 12 May 2026.
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute legal advice and seeks to set out the general principles of the law. Detailed advice should therefore be sought from a legal professional relating to the individual merits and facts of a particular case. The photographs which appear in this article are included for decorative purposes only and should not be taken as a depiction of any matter to which the case is related. The views and opinions expressed in this article/material are solely those of the members authoring it and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Denis Chang’s Chambers, or of any other member or members of Denis Chang’s Chambers.