Brazilian police said that "they had uncovered emails" between detained IOC member Patrick Hickey and the British owner of a ticketing company they said masterminded a scheme selling Olympic tickets illegally, according to Prada & Viga Gaier of REUTERS.
Police told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro that "they were also investigating bank documents for evidence of money laundering linked to the illegal ticketing ring." Among the communications police said that they found between Hickey and execs of THG Sports "were emails with Marcus Evans, the British businessman whose namesake company controls THG." In the emails, they said, Hickey and Evans "discussed tickets that are at the heart of the investigation into the alleged scheme," which police said the ring planned to sell at inflated prices and earn as much as R$10M ($3.09M) in profit. Aloysio Falcão, one of the police investigators in charge of the case, said, "They had numerous contacts." Reuters "could not independently verify the authenticity of the emails or reach Evans by telephone or email for comment." Lawyers for Hickey in Brazil and Ireland "did not return emails or phone messages." In addition to Hickey, at least three other members of the Olympic Council of Ireland "are suspected of involvement in the illegal sales, police said: executive director Stephen Martin, secretary-general Dermot Henihan and treasurer Kevin Kilty" (REUTERS, 8/23). The AP reported the police said that the man named to head Ireland's Olympic committee after its president was arrested "is also suspected of participating in the scheme but left Brazil before he could be questioned." Authorities said that William O'Brien, who took responsibility for the Irish committee after Hickey was detained last week, "departed from Brazil one day before authorities obtained a warrant to seize his passport and mobile devices in a Sunday raid." Falcão said, "There are a lot of messages mentioning William O'Brien along with Patrick Hickey" (AP, 8/23).
