Brazilian police say official in World Cup ticket scalping case to be re-arrested

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian police plan to re-arrest the director of a World Cup hospitality company implicated in a ticket scalping scheme.

Investigator Fabio Barucke tells The Associated Press that Ray Whelan, an executive with the MATCH group, will be arrested Thursday afternoon.

Police accuse Whelan of selling tickets to a known international scalper.

Barucke tells The AP in an exclusive interview that what began as an investigation into street-level illegal ticket reselling will be expanded.

He says police have only analyzed half of about 50,000 tapped phone calls between ticket scalpers and officials who provided them with tickets — and that he believes the probe will eventually involve officials from FIFA and from Brazil’s national football confederation.

Whelan was arrested and released earlier in the week. He denies all wrongdoing.

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