New Lenox White Sox Employees Indicted In Ticket Scheme: Feds

NEW LENOX, IL — Two former Chicago White Sox employees from New Lenox have been indicted in federal court after an alleged scheme to fraudulently sell game tickets, according to a release from the Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney's Office.

James Costello, 66, and William O'Neil, 51, fraudulently generated complementary and discount game tickets without the team's authorization and gave them to a broker, Bruce Lee, 34, of Chicago, in exchange for cash payments, according to the indictment.

The broker, Lee, owned Great Tickets, a Chicago-based ticket brokerage. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, he would sell the tickets on StubHub at prices below face value.

The indictment states that during the 2016 to 2019 seasons, Lee earned $868,393 by selling 34,876 tickets he fraudulently obtained from Costello and O'Neil. The White Sox suffered a loss of $1 million due to the scheme, prosecutors said.

The indictment was returned Jan. 30 in U.S. District Court in Chicago. According to prosecutors, Lee is charged with 11 counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering; Costello is charged with one count of wire fraud; and O'Neil is charged with one count of making a false statement to the FBI.

Arraignments have not yet been scheduled, prosecutors said. Each count of wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, while each money laundering count carries a maximum sentence of ten years. The false statement charge is punishable by up to five years in federal prison.