Fired Gophers ticket director charged in alleged long-running ticket-order scheme

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A former University of Minnesota ticketing director has been charged in federal court with enriching himself through a long-running scheme involving football and men's hockey and basketball ticket orders.

Brent A. Holck, 37, of Maple Grove, was charged Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis with wire fraud in connection with the siphoning of money from April 2012 to January 2017.

Holck's attorney, Peter Wold, said Wednesday that his client "has been taking responsibility for this all along." He intends to plead guilty and is working toward making restitution, Wold said.

Neither Wold nor the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed how much ill-gotten gains came to Holck. The charging document listed a single fraudulent ticket transaction three years into his scheme resulting in Holck receiving $1,500.

Public records show Holck was earning more than $90,000 as of 2015 in base annual salary overseeing sales to games, concerts and other events on campus.

Holck was fired in February 2017 after the university's office of internal audit discovered discrepancies in ticket transaction records. Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle said at the time that the FBI's investigation into the matter focused on an alleged "sophisticated scheme" dating to 2011.

Gophers spokesman Paul Rovnak said the school's Office of Internal Audit "assisted us in improving our processes and procedures to better control our ticket distribution."

The criminal complaint said Holck would locate completed sales in the university's ticketing system — often after an event has occurred — delete orders and have refunds issued to accounts under his control.

He also exploited his position with the athletic department by issuing tickets and parking passes to personal or business acquaintances, who then sold those tickets and gave the majority of the proceeds to Holck.

Both Wold and Coyle said Holck acted alone. Holck's wife, Jessica Holck, was not under investigation and remains director of events for the Golden Gophers Fund.

In a statement issued when the scheme was first publicly disclosed by the university in June 2017, U officials said, "It's important to note, this activity did not have any direct financial impact on fans. No fan lost a single dollar as a result of this activity."

http://www.startribune.com/fired-go...d-long-running-ticket-order-scheme/499979971/

 

He also exploited his position with the athletic department by issuing tickets and parking passes to personal or business acquaintances, who then sold those tickets and gave the majority of the proceeds to Holck.

Both Wold and Coyle said Holck acted alone.

So these other people thought they just got tickets from Holck for ... fun? But then they sold them and gave him money? That is "acting alone"?
 

A former University of Minnesota ticketing director has been charged in federal court with enriching himself through a long-running scheme involving football and men's hockey and basketball ticket orders.

Brent A. Holck, 37, of Maple Grove, was charged Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis with wire fraud in connection with the siphoning of money from April 2012 to January 2017.

Holck's attorney, Peter Wold, said Wednesday that his client "has been taking responsibility for this all along." He intends to plead guilty and is working toward making restitution, Wold said.

Neither Wold nor the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed how much ill-gotten gains came to Holck. The charging document listed a single fraudulent ticket transaction three years into his scheme resulting in Holck receiving $1,500.

Public records show Holck was earning more than $90,000 as of 2015 in base annual salary overseeing sales to games, concerts and other events on campus.

Holck was fired in February 2017 after the university's office of internal audit discovered discrepancies in ticket transaction records. Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle said at the time that the FBI's investigation into the matter focused on an alleged "sophisticated scheme" dating to 2011.

Gophers spokesman Paul Rovnak said the school's Office of Internal Audit "assisted us in improving our processes and procedures to better control our ticket distribution."

The criminal complaint said Holck would locate completed sales in the university's ticketing system — often after an event has occurred — delete orders and have refunds issued to accounts under his control.

He also exploited his position with the athletic department by issuing tickets and parking passes to personal or business acquaintances, who then sold those tickets and gave the majority of the proceeds to Holck.

Both Wold and Coyle said Holck acted alone. Holck's wife, Jessica Holck, was not under investigation and remains director of events for the Golden Gophers Fund.

In a statement issued when the scheme was first publicly disclosed by the university in June 2017, U officials said, "It's important to note, this activity did not have any direct financial impact on fans. No fan lost a single dollar as a result of this activity."

http://www.startribune.com/fired-go...d-long-running-ticket-order-scheme/499979971/


Good Lord, they can't keep wifey on the payroll, can they?
 

Holck's wife, Jessica Holck, was not under investigation and remains director of events for the Golden Gophers Fund.

This feels... problematic at best.
 

The most impressive thing in that story is a ticket sold for $1500.
 


His wife keeps her job? Not a good look for the Golden Gophers Fund in my opinion.
 

How in the world can the wife be in charge of a fund? They can’t say this didn’t affect fans - the lost revenue had to be made up somewhere. Higher ticket prices, parking, concessions, etc.


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Classic example of having too much free time on his hands.
 

This obviously explains why ticket sales are down now with Fleck because Fleck put an end to these elaborate schemes which inflated attendance numbers.

This explains a lot.
I am glad the false bios are the biggest issues we have to deal with now under the Fleck regime.

No wonder they kept saying our games were drawing 40k and 50k when it only looked like 15-20k in attendance.
 




The most impressive thing in that story is a ticket sold for $1500.

the quote is a "ticket transaction." a transaction could involve multiple tickets. If I buy 1 ticket, or 10 tickets, that is likely considered one 'transaction.' Unless I call 10 different times to buy 10 different tickets, which is unlikely.
 


I don't think the U has any idea what oversight truly looks like.

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This reminds me of Pat Forceia. He skated. This guy will probably skate too.

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Forgot about that guy. How many times do you think you saw the phrase “marketing whiz Pat Forceia...” in Sid’s column.
 

This reminds me of Pat Forceia. He skated. This guy will probably skate too.

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Yep, but if the problems with the psychiatry department's research didn't wake anyone up, what would?

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Imagine the damage he could have done if he had, you know, actually sold tickets.

BTW, it's entirely unfair to suggest the guy's wife should lose her job, too. You can't punish someone for marrying an ***hole. That's usually punishment enough.

JTG
 



Imagine the damage he could have done if he had, you know, actually sold tickets.

BTW, it's entirely unfair to suggest the guy's wife should lose her job, too. You can't punish someone for marrying an ***hole. That's usually punishment enough.

JTG

Agreed. I believe it's illegal to fire someone in Minnesota because of something their spouse does. Besides which, is the Golden Gopher Fund actually run by the U or is that legally a separate organization?

That said, I would imagine the auditing frequency at the GGF might increase "slightly", though...
 

Remember when you used to get away with stuff. A darn shame the world has moved on...
 

This reminds me of Pat Forceia. He skated. This guy will probably skate too.

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In November 2004, a federal judge sentenced him to eight years in federal prison and ordered him to repay $5 million to 10 victims of his scams.
 

In November 2004, a federal judge sentenced him to eight years in federal prison and ordered him to repay $5 million to 10 victims of his scams.
I can appreciate that. What was paid to the U? Mouse skated.

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I believe it's illegal to fire someone in Minnesota because of something their spouse does.

Actually, the vast majority of American workers are "employees at will," which means they can be fired at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all. We're kinda funny that way.

So unless you have a contract or are part of a union, no explanation is necessary to dump you.

JTG
 

Actually, the vast majority of American workers are "employees at will," which means they can be fired at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all. We're kinda funny that way.

So unless you have a contract or are part of a union, no explanation is necessary to dump you.

JTG

Not any reason.... there are limits.
 

Actually, the vast majority of American workers are "employees at will," which means they can be fired at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all. We're kinda funny that way.

So unless you have a contract or are part of a union, no explanation is necessary to dump you.

JTG

Practiced employment law for several years and this is news to me.
 


So that's not true?

Well since Trump has lied or misled the public over 5,000 times in two years I guess some of the posters here think it is ok to lie or mislead the public as well.
 

UMN’s Former Ticketing Director Charged In Ticket Fraud Scheme - WCCO-TV

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018...-university-of-minnesota-ticket-fraud-scheme/

“In essence, we had tickets that were distributed for Gopher events and we had tickets that were used, but the revenue wasn’t tying back to those tickets,” said Mark Coyle, University of Minnesota athletic director.

The University of Minnesota said Brent Holck was later fired. Investigators say the scheme was complex.

According to a criminal complaint, Holck would look for and find completed sales in the university’s ticketing system, usually after a game was over. He would then allegedly delete those orders and have refunds issued to accounts that were under his control.

Investigators say Holck also issued tickets and parking passes to personal or business acquaintances, who sold those tickets and gave the majority of the money to Holck.

“My client has been taking responsibility for this all along,” said Peter Wold, Holck’s attorney. “He intends to plead guilty and is working toward making restitution.”

Wold said he has not been told how much money came to Holck from his activities.

According to the University of Minnesota, no fan lost any money as a result of Holck’s scheme. The university says improvements have been made to the ticket distribution system for better control.

Holck’s first court appearance is set for Nov. 14.
 

Practiced employment law for several years and this is news to me.

That's funny. Because that line, "fired at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all," is a direct quote from an employment law professional I spent a fair amount of time with.

Your view might also be news to the National Conference of State Legislatures:
"Employment relationships are presumed to be “at-will” in all U.S. states except Montana. The U.S. is one of a handful of countries where employment is predominantly at-will. Most countries throughout the world allow employers to dismiss employees only for cause."
http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/at-will-employment-overview.aspx
Second paragraph at the top of the page. You can't miss it.

Here's a more run-of-the-mill source, but they spell it out pretty plainly:
At-will means that you or your employer can terminate your job on a moment's notice for any reason, whether good, bad, indifferent or for no reason at all. The law in most states presumes that an employee is at-will unless the employee can prove otherwise. This means that unless the termination violates federal or state law, company policies, or an implied contract, there is very little that an at-will employee can do to protest a termination without a reason.
https://employment-law.freeadvice.com/employment-law/firing/fired-for-no-reason.htm

I'm not a legal professional, nor have I been directly involved in an employment law suit. But I've been indirectly involved, and I've reported on such suits.

Just guessing, but I bet that you more frequently represented defendants than plaintiffs in employment law situations.

JTG
 

Actually, the vast majority of American workers are "employees at will," which means <b>they can be fired at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all. </b>We're kinda funny that way.

So unless you have a contract or are part of a union, no explanation is necessary to dump you.

JTG

That’s a stretch. There are countless reasons you can’t fire someone for. Also, many lawsuits have been filed from folks claiming to have been fired for one of those reasons. “I don’t need a reason” isn’t one of the advisable defense strategies.


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