Chicago ticket broker convicted for fraudulent sale of White Sox tickets valued at nearly $1 million
Written by Luck Wilson on October 7, 2021
A federal jury convicted a ticket broker on Wednesday for his role in a scheme that involved the fraudulent sale of tickets to Chicago White Sox games, according to a report by the Associated Press. 35-year old Bruce Lee, the owner of a Chicago-based brokerage named Great Tickets, was convicted on 11 counts of wire fraud after the fraudulent sale of nearly 35,000 tickets valued at $860,000 between the 2016 and 2019 MLB seasons.
In January of 2020, a public indictment accused Lee and two former White Sox ticket booth staffers of a scheme in which the ticket staffers — James Costello and William O’Neil — generated thousands of complimentary and discount tickets without the required vouchers or knowledge of the team and gave them to Lee in exchange for cash. Lee then sold the tickets on StubHub, costing the team hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.
Lee’s sentencing has been scheduled for January 10 of next year, but his attorney argued that the jury did not take government evidence into account and maintained that his client would continue to fight the charges.
Lee’s conviction comes over a year after Costello and O’Neil, the two other parties involved in the scheme, pleaded guilty to federal charges for their respective roles — Costello pleaded guilty to wire fraud, while O’Neil admitted to lying to the FBI. The two agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in pursuing Lee.
In a statement, the White Sox expressed satisfaction with the jury’s decision, stating that the team was glad “that the person who orchestrated the theft and profited the most has been held accountable.”
Over the course of four MLB seasons, the scheme involving White Sox tickets generated nearly $1 million in profits for the trio involved in the case.
KVSP