Ticket scam probe widens

A Brazilian judge also ordered seizure of the passports of stand-in OCI president Willie O'Brien, vice-president John Delaney and an OCI personal assistant, Linda O'Reilly.

A court in Rio de Janeiro said earlier that no date has been set for a hearing for Hickey, who stepped down as head of the OCI and from all his other Olympic roles when the investigation was launched.

Hickey, 71, is in a maximum-security Rio prison following a police raid last week at his hotel on suspicion he participated in the illegal sales plot.

Police allege Hickey was part of a scam involving Ireland's official Games ticket reseller, Dublin-based PRO10 Sports Management, and an international sports hospitality company, THG Sports.

They accuse PRO10 of funneling tickets for various Olympic events - including the opening and closing ceremony to THG Sports, which sold them - at inflated prices.

A director of THG Sports, Kevin Mallon, was arrested this month in Brazil and is now sharing a cell with Hickey in Bangu prison.

PRO10 and THG have denied wrongdoing.

Hickey's lawyer in Dublin did not respond to an email requesting comment.

The IOC had said Hickey would face a judge on Tuesday, but the Rio court said that no hearing has yet been scheduled.

Police say they seized "more than 1,000 tickets" from THG Sports, which is not an official ticket reseller, and a judge has ordered the arrest of four more THG executives on accusations of fraudulent ticket sales.

THG has said the seized tickets were being held legally on behalf of PRO10.

The investigation has been unfolding since the Games opened on Aug 5, when the head of THG Sports was arrested with tickets allocated to OCI.