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British online ticket fraudster gets another 6 years in jail

LONDON (Reuters) - A jailed ticket fraudster was sentenced to another six years on Tuesday after ignoring a British court order to pay 1.25 million pounds ($2.13 million) for failing to deliver tickets to events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
/ Source: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A jailed ticket fraudster was sentenced to another six years on Tuesday after ignoring a British court order to pay 1.25 million pounds ($2.13 million) for failing to deliver tickets to events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

London-based Terence Shepherd, the director behind online tickets operation Xclusive, was sentenced to eight years in July 2011 for fraudulent trading, money laundering and acting as a company director whilst disqualified.

Xclusive "sold" but failed to supply thousands of tickets worth millions of pounds for major events including the Beijing Olympics and music festivals during the summer of 2008. Xclusive then collapsed, leaving more than 10,000 people without tickets.

Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said Shepherd, 55, had been ordered to pay a confiscation order of 1.25 million pounds, of which just over 1 million was supposed to have compensated victims. If he failed to pay within six months, he would face another six years in jail in default of payment, he was told.

He nevertheless only paid around 100,000 pounds and now owes more than 1.267 million pounds, including 120,000 in interest, which is accruing at a daily rate of 251 pounds, the SFO said.

"You have culpably neglected or wilfully refused to pay ... this sum and I am not in a position to grant a further adjournment," said Judge Tan Ikram at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Shepherd will serve the sentence after his current sentence unless the confiscation order and all interest is paid in full.

($1 = 0.5880 British Pounds)

(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; Editing by Mark Heinrich)