Former owner of Xanthi FC, Greek-Australian businessman Bill Papas, has been sentenced to seven years in prison (84 months) without suspension by the Single-Member Misdemeanor Court of Xanthi for failing to pay wages owed to employees of the professional football club.
This marks the first major criminal conviction issued by a Greek court against Papas, who took over the club 4.5 years ago. The case involved four separate lawsuits concerning unpaid wages, Christmas and Easter bonuses, and vacation allowances owed to 20 employees.
Papas did not appear in court and was represented by an assistant lawyer from Thessaloniki, ThrakiSportS reported. The lawyer clarified that he had only taken on Papas’s defense in one of the four cases due to financial constraints.
During the lengthy proceedings, several unpaid employees testified, including head coach Nikos Kehagias, goalkeeping coach Alekos Maladenis, and long-time club staff member Hussein Tsitak, who had been with Xanthi FC before the tenure of former owner Christos Panopoulos.
On the defense side, former club manager Kostas Tsalikis, administrative employee Maria Alexopoulou, and groundskeeper Mehmet Chetak testified that they had received their salaries from Papas. Other employees who had been paid before the club’s financial collapse did not attend the trial.
Under the new Greek Penal Code, the sentence is immediately enforceable, meaning that law enforcement authorities are required to arrest Papas and place him in prison if he is found in Greece. This follows a previous conviction in 2023, when he was sentenced to nine months in prison for the same wage-related offenses.
Papas is also embroiled in legal troubles in Australia. A Sydney court recently found him guilty of defrauding Australian banks out of hundreds of millions of dollars, though that case was a civil matter rather than a criminal conviction.
Additionally, Greek authorities have seized all his assets in the country—including his shares in the now-liquidated Xanthi FC—due to money laundering investigations linked to the Australian charges.
While Papas is expected to appeal the Xanthi court’s decision, the appeal will not have a suspensive effect, meaning he must be imprisoned regardless of any further legal action.