World Cup ticket scandal
July 8, 2014
Authorities in Rio de Janeiro apprehended Match Hospitality director Ray Whelan on Monday at the Copacabana Palace Hotel, on suspicion of involvement in an international ticket scalping ring.
In a statement following Whelan's arrest, the company said it would "be fully assisting the police in investigating the matter," adding that no other staff members had been implicated in the case so far.
Match Hospitality provides deluxe packages to high-end football customers and was allocated 445,500 of the 3 million purchasable tickets for the 2014 World Cup, according to FIFA. One of the its shareholder companies is owned by Philippe Blatter, the son of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
The seafront Rio resort where Whelan was staying is one of the premiere World Cup hotspots, housing Blatter and other senior FIFA officials.
Phone-tapping link
Last week, Brazilian police snagged 11 suspects and confiscated over 130 game tickets. They said that at least 70 of those tickets had been for corporate hospitality.
Whelan, a British citizen, came under suspicion when authorities, who had been conducting a phone tapping investigation, intercepted calls between him and one of the people arrested last week, Mohamadou Lamine Fofana. The French-Algerian suspect runs Atlanta Sportif Management, a customer of Match Hospitality.
Prior to Whelan's arrest, Match Hospitality cancelled Atlanta Sportif's tickets to the semi-finals and finals. Three companies implicated in the scandal were also warned by the ticket provider to comply with the investigation or face having their tickets revoked.
Brazilian police estimated at the time of last week's arrests that the scalping ring had earned roughly $445,000 per game (1 million Brazilian real; 327,000 euros) and was seeking to increase their going rate to $16,000 per ticket for the final match on July 13.
kms/jr (AP, AFP, dpa)