KU Ticket Indictment

The former director of ticketing operations at the University of Kansas was recently named as one of several employees charged with conspiring to steal more than $2 million in tickets to the school’s football and basketball games.

In a grand jury indictment, the employees were alleged to have earned up to $5 million by skimming off and selling the tickets to brokers over several years.

While four athletic department employees and a consultant were named in an internal report from the university in May, former ticketing director Kassie Liebsch continued to work at the school until the indictment was announced Nov. 18, according to the Kansas City Star.

Needless to say, Larry Tenopir, a local attorney and member of the athletics fundraising arm for KU, found the news troubling.
“I think it’s incredibly distressing that the new person that’s indicted is apparently in charge of ticket operations up through this morning when she resigned,” Tenopir told the paper. “That just flabbergasted me that they still had someone there working who was involved. It kind of makes you wonder how honest the ticket distribution was this year.”

The school reportedly looked into Liebsch during the internal investigation in May, but found no evidence she was involved at the time. Interim athletics director Sean Lester said in a statement to the Star he’s confident no ticket theft has occurred in recent months.

“Over the past six months, we have implemented measures to strengthen our ticket protocols and make the entire process more transparent,” he said. “I think our donors appreciate the enhancements we have made in transparency, accountability and the fact that so many of their seating locations have improved.”

The alleged conspirators are scheduled to appear in federal court Dec. 8.