Brazil 2014: Match Hospitality director arrested over illegal ticket sales, then released

Ray Whelan, the director of Match Hospitality, a Swiss company that holds and manages the hospitality programme rights for FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), was arrested in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) as part of the police's Jules Rimet operation (named for the French man who founded the World Cup in 1930) to investigate an illegal tickets sale network, the Brazilian police announced on 07/07/2014. He was released and is cooperating with the police, Match Hospitality announced on 08/07/2014.

Whelan, a British national aged 64 and the former agent of Bobby Charlton (ENG), is suspected to have led a criminal network that illegally sold tickets for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil (12/06 to 13/07/2014). "Match Hospitality will continue to fully support all police investigations, which we firmly believe will fully exonerate Ray," said Match Hospitality on 08/07/2014.

The police said that they had intercepted 900 calls between Ray Whelan and Mohamadou Lamine Fofana (ALG), CEO of Atlanta Sportif International, a marketing agency and Match Hospitality client. Fofana was…