A Rio de Janeiro judge has accepted the charges made against Town owner Marcus Evans and nine others by a public prosecutor relating to the alleged selling of Olympics tickets for significantly above their face value by Evans’s THG Sports hospitality company.
Publishing her decision on Friday evening, Judge Juliana Leal de Melo accepted the charges forwarded by prosecutor Marcus Kas on Wednesday.
Also charged are fellow THG directors Kevin Mallon, whose arrest at the start of the Games sparked the investigation, Maarten Van Os, David Gilmore and Martin Studd, a translator Barbara Carnieri, as well as former Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Pat Hickey and three directors of their Authorised Ticket Reseller (ATR), Pro 10, who include football agent Eamonn Collins, who has represented ex-Blues Daryl Murphy and Conor Sammon.
Only Mallon and Hickey are currently in Brazil, having been bailed after initially being held in prison following their arrests. Their passports have been retained and neither is currently allowed to leave Brazil.
According to Irish TV channel RTE, the 10 defendants face charges of criminal organisation, ticket touting, ambush marketing, larceny, money laundering and tax evasion.
It’s anticipated that the court case could take around a year and a half to reach its conclusion.
Evans and THG Sports, Pro 10 and Hickey have all repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
A statement from Town on Wednesday after the charges were made read: "We are aware of it. It's not a matter for the football club directly, it's a matter for THG and they are dealing with it."
Meanwhile, it’s emerged that the OCI had signed up THG to be their ATR for the next two Olympics - the Pyeongchang Winter Games in 2018 and Tokyo 2020 - prior to Rio and the current ongoing controversy.
THG were the OCI’s ATR for London 2012 and Sochi 2014 but were prevented from taking up the same role at this year’s Games by Rio’s organisers.
Elsewhere, Rio police have alleged that THG was also supplied tickets by US-based company Cartan, the ATR for 36 nations and territories and have released further email exchanges involving the various parties.
Carten subsequently denied any wrongdoing, confirming to the Irish Independent that they did sell tickets to THG Sports, which they say is permitted as THG "resides in an EEA [European Economic Area] member state", that the tickets were "purchased from EEA member states' inventories" and that sales of that type are "expressly provided for by the IOC" and Rio ticketing agreements.