Two alleged representatives of sports hospitality firm THG have been arrested in Rio de Janiero over ticket touting at the Olympic Games.
Kevin James Mallon and Barbara Carnieri are believed to work for the London-based company, which is owned by Ipswich Town owner Marcus Evans. The two suspects are accused of criminal conspiracy, ambush marketing and facilitating touting.
The Guardian newspaper reports that Mallon was allegedly caught selling tickets for the Olympics opening ceremony at hugely inflated prices. According to photographs produced by the police following a raid of his hotel room, some of the opening ceremony tickets featured the name of the Olympic Council of Ireland.
THG is not the authorised re-seller for Ireland’s Olympic tickets, although it did have a deal to resell tickets for the London and Sochi Games.
The Irish Olympic Council has denied any knowledge of alleged ticket touting.
“The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) has no knowledge of the two individuals arrested,” it said in a statement.
“The OCI has launched an immediate investigation with our Authorised Ticket Reseller into how these individuals were allegedly in possession of OCI allocated tickets.
“The OCI strictly adheres to the IOC regulations around ticket allocation, sale and re-sale. We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness.”
In a statement, the Civil Police’s Centre for Major Event Support said it had caught the suspects “red handed” during an operation last Friday that also found more than 1,000 tickets had been sold at inflated values.
The statement noted that THG chief executive James Sinton was arrested in Brazil in 2014 for organising a “ticket mafia” during the 2014 World Cup finals. Carnieri is said to be a local interpreter who was hired by THG three months ago.
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