The former head of sports ticket sales at the University of Minnesota was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with one count of wire fraud on Tuesday.
Brent Holck, 37, was the assistant athletic director of sales and services at UMN before being terminated in January 2017. Holck had worked at the university since 2008 and was paid a salary of $94,003. Last June, CBS Minnesota first reported that the FBI began to investigate the alleged fraud case against Holck. Then, last winter, possible criminal activity was found during an audit.
According to the criminal complaint, Holck allegedly used his position to steal money, CBS reports. He allegedly used the ticket sales system to access completed orders to the school’s events. Then, after the event had passed, he would issue refunds to the order into accounts he controlled. He also allegedly issued tickets and parking passes to friends who would then sell the tickets and give a profit to Holck.
Holck allegedly kept these proceeds to himself and has been participating in the fraud for at least six years – from April 2012 to January 2017. While officials couldn’t provide the number of tickets in question or the amount of money he stole, they believe he was the only individual involved in the scheme.
So far, Holck has only been charged for a single instance of a $1,500 refund from 2015, however, if he is convicted, he will likely owe much more. He will appear in federal court next on November 14.
