World Cup ticket boss surrenders
July 14, 2014Whelan surrendered on Monday to a Rio de Janeiro court where he was last week bailed over his alleged involvement in a ticket "scalping" or "touting" network.
The 64-year-old Briton, a director of FIFA partner Match Services, had left his hotel in Rio last Thursday after police had obtained a fresh warrant for his arrest following his detention earlier in the week.
Despite Whelan having been bailed, a judge had made an order for him to be rearrested along with 10 other suspects accused of a multi-million dollar fraud. Offences allegedly involved the illegal reselling at inflated prices of some 1,000 tickets per match of the World Cup finals.
Whelan's organization had been granted exclusive rights to sell high-end, luxury tickets, principally to corporate clients. Match Services had paid $240 million (176 million euros) for exclusive rights to provide such packages during the 2010 and 2014 football World Cups.
In all, 12 people now face accusations including criminal organization, bribery, money-laundering and tax evasion in connection with the affair.
rc/bk (AFP, AP, Reuters)