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A Brazilian company has started legal proceedings against a British sports hospitality provider for fraudulently selling Rio Olympic tickets.

Energy enterprise Cosan is suing THG SportsHospitality in the Sao Paulo court for 350,000 reis (87,000 euros, $97,000) plus damages and interest after buying 200 hospitality packages from the British company, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported on Wednesday.

A Cosan spokesperson told AFP the packages included tickets to Olympic events.

But the spokesperson said Cosan had contacted the Rio organising committee which told them THG did not have the right to sell or re-sell Olympic tickets.

When contacted by AFP, THG declined to comment.

Ticketing director for the Rio organising committee, Donovan Ferrete told AFP that THG did bid for the right to sell tickets “but wasn’t accepted”.

Cosan is accusing THG of fraudulently selling its hospitality packages.

Up until Tuesday afternoon THG was still advertising Rio Olympic hospitality packages, without specifying that these included entry tickets. These offers have since been removed.

THG manager James Sinton was arrested in a Rio hotel in June 2014, accused of illegally reselling World Cup tickets through a hospitality package.

The Briton paid a fine and left the country.

Ferrete said the organising committee has been working with police for the last year to stamp out illegal ticket sales. Since then 10 people have been indicted for reselling tickets on social media. – Agence France-Presse

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