Court told LFC ticket sales staff colluded with touts

ACCUSED OF CREATING FAKE MEMBERSHIPS TO SELL TICKETS AT INFLATED PRICES

- By ADAM EVERETT

EMPLOYEES in Liverpool FC's ticket office colluded with touts to resell passes for games at Anfield "at significantly inflated prices", a court has heard.

The alleged fraud is said to have spanned several years and involved the creation of more than 1,000 LFC memberships using fake names and details, potentially generating hundreds of thousands of pounds in profits.

Five men and two women went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, accused of being part of the conspiracy.

Nicola Daley told a jury of seven men and five women during the prosecution's opening: "In simple terms, each of the defendants on trial before you are said to have been involved in a sophisticated ticket fraud.

"The central purpose was to obtain as many Liverpool football tickets as possible, the prosecution say by various dishonest means, in order to then resell those tickets at significantly inflated prices via online secondary websites such as Viagogo, StubHub and Ticketbis.

"As time went on, the fraud was extended beyond Liverpool Football Club to the obtaining, by dishonest, means and then reselling of tickets to matches for other Premier League football clubs as well."

The court heard that Louis James and James Johnson worked in the ticket office, with Johnson leaving the club in December 2017.

In February 2018, an upgrade to LFC’s ticket management identified four “local general sale tickets”, specially priced at £9 for supporters residing in Liverpool postcodes, which were processed and sold before they had been made available to fans.

"Internal investigations revealed numerous other tickets in different names had been purchased using the same credit card.