World Athletics: corporate theft of "over €1.5m over a period of several years" discovered

"Earlier this year World Athletics uncovered the systematic theft of money from the organisation by two employees and a contracted consultant. While one of the employees left the organisation before their theft was discovered, another employee and a consultant had their contracts terminated following an internal investigation," announced the international federation in a press release published on 30/10/2025.

This misappropriation of funds, estimated at "just over €1.5m over a period of several years" was discovered by World Athletics' finance department during the first audit of 2025. "Detailed cases have been prepared and handed over to the relevant judicial and legal authorities for criminal investigation," said the body, which had generated $99.386m (€95.4m) in revenue by the close of the 2024 Olympic year.

"We are determined to recover whatever monies we are able using the full force of the law to do this. Too many organisations brush incidents like this under the carpet, terminating employment with limited information which allows perpetrators to continue their scams and thefts…