Ticket broker, 2 Chicago White Sox employees are accused of fraud
CHICAGO - A ticket broker and two Chicago White Sox employees are accused of fraudulently selling thousands of tickets to the team’s games, generating close to $1 million for themselves, federal prosecutors revealed Friday.
Great Tickets owner Bruce Lee of Chicago is charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Sox employee James Costello is charged with wire fraud and employee William O’Neil is charged with lying to the FBI about giving Lee complimentary White Sox tickets without the team’s knowledge.
The indictment alleges Costello, 66, and O’Neil, 51, both of New Lenox, generated thousands of White Sox tickets without the team’s knowledge and gave them to Lee, 34, in exchange for unspecified amounts of cash. Costello allegedly generated tickets for Lee while using other employees’ identification to access White Sox computers. Costello allegedly recruited O’Neil in 2017 to help.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports Lee sold 6,323 of the tickets during the 2016 baseball season, 17,408 during the 2017 season, 11,115 during the 2018 season and 30 heading into the 2019 season. He sold the tickets exclusively on StubHub, below face value.,
Lee and his attorney, Robert Rascia, declined comment on the case. It wasn’t immediately known if Castello and O’Neil have legal representation.