Olympics executive arrested on suspicion of scalping tickets in Rio

Police in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday arrested an International Olympics Committee executive on suspicion of being involved in an Olympics ticket-scalping ring.

Patrick Hickey, 71, has been an IOC executive board member since 2012. He also heads the European Olympic Committees and is the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland.

"Civil police discovered the involvement of Patrick in the international scheme of ticket scalping," Rio police said, according to The Associated Press.

Hickey and others are accused of selling Olympics tickets illegally, though it's unclear whether Hickey himself has allegedly received any money from the operation.

Police in Rio reportedly found more than 1,000 tickets sold at a high price. Money from those sales was then given to the Olympic Council of Ireland.

Hickey reportedly fell ill after his arrest, and was taken to a hospital.

The IOC has so far said is "still in the process of establishing the facts."

These allegations against a member of the IOC are just the latest black mark around an organization that seems perpetually enmeshed in one cloud of corruption or another.

The IOC has been criticized for not enforcing a ban on Russian athletes in Rio despite evidence of state-sponsored doping, and suspicion of bribery has muddied the decision to host the next summer Games in Tokyo.

The Olympic Council of Ireland seemed blindsided by the allegations against its president.

In a statement, the organization said it "adheres to the IOC regulations around ticket allocation, sale and re-sale."

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