Brazilian police on Wednesday, August 17 arrested top International Olympic Committee member Patrick Hickey over illegal sales of Rio Olympics tickets.
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His arrest follows the Brazilian police’s investigation into events which led to nearly 800 Irish tickets for the Olympic games ending up in the hands of alleged touts, to be sold illegally.
Irish member of the International Olympic Committee Patrick Hickey was arrested this morning in Rio in a line of arrests that cracks down on reselling of Olympic tickets.
Mr Hickey, said to be unwell after his arrest, has not yet commented publicly.
Hickey’s arrest follows earlier operations by police against what they say is an global ticket scalping ring.
Agents have seized more than 1,000 tickets that were being sold for high fees and allocated to the OCI.
Mr.de Oliveira said Rio police are looking to arrest three other people in connection with the alleged ticket scheme.
Mr Evans owns THG, the sports hospitality group who are at the centre of the Rio ticketing scandal.
It regards Romario’s claim on his personal blog that the Irishman ensured that, THG Sports, a subsidiary of a firm that – at the time – employed his son Stephen Hickey, would receive the contract for ticket sales in Ireland for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Police arrived at his hotel room at 6am local time, and found only Mr Hickey’s wife, who would not provide the whereabouts of her husband.
“PRO10 has acted with integrity and has been dragged into an issue in relation to ticketing simply because of its status as ATR”, the company said.
“We are seeking total clarity on the situation before we comment further”, the Olympic Council of Ireland said in the statement.
Following his arrest he was taken to anearby hospital as a precaution when he told them he suffered from high blood pressure.
Hickey is facing charges of facilitating ticket touting, formation of a cartel and ambush or illicit marketing and a maximum of seven years in prison.
The IOC official is reported to have rejected a request to include an independent person on the OCI’s probe into the ticketing scam.
An International Olympics Committee executive has been arrested and six more have been accused of illegally selling tickets, per reports from O Estado de Sao Paulo and USA Today. He was in the possession of 823 tickets which police have confirmed were all from the OCI or its authorised ticket vendor Pro10. “We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness”.
The minister said Hickey, who is believed to still be in hospital, has accepted consular assistance.
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In 2006, he became president of the Rome-based European Olympic Committees.
