Ticket scam probe widens
Emails allegedly link IOC member to illegal sales
Brazilian police on Tuesday said they had uncovered emails between detained International Olympic Committee member Patrick Hickey and the head of a ticketing company that discussed the illegal sale of tickets to the Rio Games.
Police said they were also investigating bank documents for evidence of money laundering linked to the illegal ticketing ring.
Hickey, former president of the European Olympic committee, was arrested in Brazil last week on charges he took part in illegal ticket sales for the Rio Games, which ended on Sunday.
Three members of the Olympic Council of Ireland — executive director Stephen Martin, secretary-general Dermot Henihan and treasurer Kevin Kilty — are suspected of involvement in the illegal sales, police said.
The men remain in Brazil after their passports were seized on Sunday.
Henihan appeared at police headquarters on Tuesday to answer questions. Investigators said they had ruled out his involvement in the alleged scheme because there was no evidence to support it.
Kilty and Martin had been expected to testify on Tuesday, but officials said their lawyers had asked for a postponement to have more time to review documents.
“There are a lot of messages mentioning William O’Brien along with Patrick Hickey,” said Aloysio Falcao, one of the lead investigators.
Falcao said Brazilian officials will be requesting help from the Irish government.
Charged with conspiracy, ticket scalping and ambush marketing, Hickey is accused of plotting with other members of the Ireland committee and two companies to sell tickets above face value in a scheme that authorities say could have netted about $3 million in profits.
More than 1,000 tickets have been seized in the investigation.
A Brazilian judge also ordered seizure of the passports of stand-in OCI president Willie O’Brien, vicepresident John Delaney and an OCI personal assistant, Linda O’Reilly.
A court in Rio de Janeiro said earlier that no date has been set for a hearing for Hickey, who stepped down as head of the OCI and from all his other Olympic roles when the investigation was launched.
Hickey, 71, is in a maximumsecurity Rio prison following a police raid last week at his hotel on suspicion he participated in the illegal sales plot.
Police allege Hickey was part of a scam involving Ireland’s official Games ticket reseller, Dublin-based PRO10 Sports Management, and an international sports hospitality company, THG Sports.
They accuse PRO10 of funneling tickets for various Olympic events — including the opening and closing ceremony to THG Sports, which sold them — at inflated prices.
A director of THG Sports, Kevin Mallon, was arrested this month in Brazil and is now sharing a cell with Hickey in Bangu prison.
PRO10 and THG have denied wrongdoing.
Hickey’s lawyer in Dublin did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The IOC had said Hickey would face a judge on Tuesday, but the Rio court said that no hearing has yet been scheduled.
Police say they seized “more than 1,000 tickets” from THG Sports, which is not an official ticket reseller, and a judge has ordered the arrest of four more THG executives on accusations of fraudulent ticket sales.
THG has said the seized tickets were being held legally on behalf of PRO10.
The investigation has been unfolding since the Games opened on Aug 5, when the head of THG Sports was arrested with tickets allocated to OCI.