Lee Mattocks has appeared at York Crown Court in the UK, accused of setting up fake football club memberships in order to purchase and resell tickets for Premier League matches.
Mattocks, who is 49, is alleged to have made £1m ($1.2m/€1.3m) by selling tickets for games obtained via the scam.
He pleaded not guilty to each of the 24 charges he faces, according to the Yorkshire Post.
It is alleged that Mattocks set up multiple fake membership accounts at numerous football clubs, some under female names. He then used the memberships to secure tickets and sell them on to others. Mattocks is also accused of faking a Premier League club’s trade marks on documents, with the plan of misleading people receiving the documents to believe they were genuine.
Mattocks will have to wait 18 months for his trial however. The trial is predicted to last three weeks, which is too long to be heard at York Crown Court. The trial is set for June 3 2024 at Leeds Crown Court in light of this.
It is said that the ticket scam has been carried out over a nine-year period, between 2009 and 2018. Mattocks was released on bail until his trial and there is set to be a case management hearing on April 14 when barristers will discuss case-related matters with a judge.
Mattocks is accused of 15 frauds by false representation by applying for football club memberships at top flight clubs with false information and using names that were not his own. He also faces two charges possessing articles to use in his fraudulent activities, including prepaid Mastercards held in names other than his own in 2018. The 49-year-old is also charged with six charges of applying false trademarks to business cards and compliment slips, all in 2018.
Further charges include the possession of criminal property in the form of the money accrued through ticket sales between 2012 and 2018.
According to these charges, Mattocks applied three times to Premier League club Liverpool and set up a football membership under three false names, in 2009, 2012 and 2016. The charges also say that he faked Liverpool’s club crest on three business information cards and three compliment slips.
In 2014, 2015, and 2017, it is alleged that Mattocks obtained memberships with Arsenal using a further three false names. He is also charged with securing a Tottenham Hotspur membership using three false names, once in 2016 and twice in 2017. Mattocks also targeted West Ham and set up three memberships using false names in 2017.