FIFA Corruption Scandal: 7 Most Damning Allegations Ever
4. Black Market World Cup Ticket Sales By FIFA Officials
Most recently in the news was Ray Whelan. He was arrested just after the Brazil World Cup for allegedly being part of a $100 million touting operation, selling misappropriated World Cup tickets on the black market. He headed a firm that partnered with FIFA called Match, but is not a FIFA official.
The tickets in question were mainly VIP passes and hospitality tickets. While some have claimed that it was a case of mistaken identity and he did not exchange numerous phone calls with a ticket tout/broker from Algeria called Lamine Fofana, he did not really help his case by initially fleeing arrest before handing himself in to Brazilian authorities.
The biggest case of Black Market ticket-related skullduggery involves Jack Warner, former president of CONCACAF.
The company at the centre of controversy was Simpaul Travel: a travel company who were offering luxury travel packages to the World Cup in Germany for $30,000. The tickets were essentially being marked up at astronomical rates. Warner owned shares in Simpaul through a private family-held company of his own.
An Ernst & Young report into the matter suggested that Warner and his family company earned upwards of $1 million from the deal selling tickets Jack Warner obtained through the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association. Jack Warner's son Daryan Warner was accused and fined $1 million, although only a fraction is thought to have been returned so far, equaling FIFA’s ethics committee for exacting snail-paced justice.