Olympics Ticketing Scandal Suspects Released

Both men accused of being involved in ticket scalping at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were released from police detention. Their passports remain with Rio’s authorities.

Photo: AP Photo / Felipe Dana, File

Tickets to the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro recently became available for the cheap as organizers opened up the local ticketing site to the public.

While Kevin Mallon was released on Saturday, Aug. 27, Patrick Hickey left jail on Tuesday, Aug. 30. The allegations state that Hickey, in his capacity as Olympic Council of Ireland president, facilitated the transfer of tickets to the 2016 Olympics to Mallon’s company THG, which had been banned from selling tickets because of past misconduct, according to police.

Mallon paid bail. In Hickey’s case, presiding judge Fernando Antonio de Almeida decided that “his release will not present any risk to public order or to penal law being applied,” the Irish Independent reported.

Hickey’s health condition is also cited as a reason to release him from prison. According to Anne Marie James, the Hickey family’s solicitor, “Brazilian police had ‘flagrantly abused’ the concept of the presumption of innocence.”

Hickey maintains his innocence and released the following statement: “I have been released from the police detention system. I will now stay in Rio and my lawyers will proceed to have the charges laid against me set aside as there is no substantive proof of any wrong doing on my part.

“I would like to thank the prison authorities for their kindness they have shown to me. Due to my medical condition, I will be making no further statements.”

Mallon hasn’t commented since his release.