Post: Former Liverpool employee accused of colluding with scalpers to make huge profits, making hundreds of thousands of pounds over several years

The Daily Mail reported that a former Liverpool employee has been accused of participating in a fraud scheme, colluding with ticket dealers to resell tickets at significantly inflated prices.

It is alleged that in this conspiracy that lasted for several years and made hundreds of thousands of pounds in profits, tickets were resold through websites such as Viagogo and StubHub. The case opened at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, with five men and two women appearing as defendants.

Prosecutor Nicola Daley told the jury: "In short, each of the defendants on trial before you is accused of being involved in a sophisticated ticket fraud."

"The core purpose of the fraud was to obtain as many Liverpool Football Club tickets as possible, which the prosecution said were obtained through a variety of dishonest means, and then through Viagogo, StubHub and Ti Online secondary sites such as cketbis resold these tickets at significantly inflated prices. Over time, the fraud expanded from Liverpool Football Club to dishonestly obtaining and reselling tickets for other Premier League football club matches."

Two of the defendants, 37-year-old Louis James and 42-year-old James Johnson, worked in the Liverpool ticket office. James worked as a casual worker in the Liverpool ticket office since 2002 until he became full-time in 2016. Johnson was previously a tour guide at the club, moving to the same position in the ticket office in 2014 before leaving three years later.

The club noticed that the £9 discounted tickets created for local residents had been resold online before being made available to fans for purchase. This sparked an internal investigation by the club, which found that the same credit card was used to purchase multiple tickets under different names.

The password "Luis7" is used in the system, and many email addresses are in a similar format. The investigation found that James was responsible for handling approximately 40 to 50 local general admission ticket sales per home game.

Subsequently, a senior employee of Liverpool followed and monitored James and saw him being picked up by co-defendant Joseph Johnson (no relation to James Johnson) in a white Mercedes 4x4 at the stadium.

The court heard that James then went to his ticket office cubicle and was seen taking about 30 envelopes containing tickets, season tickets and membership cards from a storage box and hiding them at his desk.

Liverpool's internal investigation led to James' sacking, and the matter was reported to Merseyside Police. His phone was confiscated and 27,000 images and nearly 250,000 messages analyzed.

The prosecutor told the jury: "In fact, the information extracted from Louis James' mobile phone tells you the whole story and what happened. Combining various clues, the police eventually discovered that in connection with this case, it appears that more than 1,000 memberships were created or used to obtain tickets for Liverpool Football Club."

"Letter between the defendants Information shows that since 2016, Louis James and Joseph Johnson have been conducting ticket transactions almost every day and every minute."

In one message, James told James Johnson: "My partner has 22 membership cards. Assuming you earn 40 pounds per home ticket, you can actually get about 15,000 pounds." The price of tickets for major matches will be much higher."

Regarding Joseph Johnson, the prosecutor said: "There is no doubt that he is a successful ticket dealer. The prosecutor said that he operates around the UK and mainly sells football tickets, but you will also see him selling tickets for other clubs. "It is unclear when Joseph Johnson first obtained help from Louis James, but it is clear that there has been a clear business relationship between them since at least 2016."

James has previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of power and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by making false statements. Johnson has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of power and three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

He allegedly used defendants Lee Smith and Liam Rice, parents Angela and David Johnson and girlfriend Sian Woodyatt as part of a conspiracy, allegedly using their bank cards to purchase memberships and tickets without their knowledge.

They denied participating in the conspiracy and pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to last several weeks.

Mini-game recommendations:Rocket Launch