A website co-owned by Todd Boehly is involved in the “unauthorised” resale of tickets to Chelsea matches and other Premier League games to foreign tourists, Telegraph Sport can reveal.

Vivid Seats, a US-based online marketplace of which Boehly is both an investor and director, does not allow fans based in Britain to buy or sell tickets – a practice which would be illegal.

It does, however, permit foreign-based users to tout tickets for up to tens of thousands of pounds, on which it charges 10 per cent commission and a service fee reported to run from 20 to 40 per cent of the original ticket price.

That raises the prospect of Chelsea co-owner Boehly profiting from a practice his own club has repeatedly denounced.

Vivid Seats is on the Premier League’s list of “unauthorised ticketing websites” and last year Chelsea said on its own website: “Chelsea FC is committed to tackling ticket touting, for both home and away matches. We identify individuals who fraudulently harvest tickets/memberships to sell at vastly inflated prices, investigate both online and offline illegal ticket sales, and use a range of tactics and enforcement measures that help to combat ticket touting.”

Vivid Seats’ website states that to sell a ticket on its platform, “The event must take place in the United States”, and, “You must reside in the United States”, and it refused to answer questions as to how it was listing Premier League matches.

The Premier League’s website urges fans to “exercise extreme caution” when dealing with “unauthorised ticketing websites” with the threat of anyone who buys through one being denied entry to a game or being duped by counterfeiters.

‘Hypocritical at best – dishonest at worst’

Boehly’s involvement has provoked fury among Chelsea supporters, one of whom told Telegraph Sport: “The fact that our owner could be benefiting personally at the expense of loyal supporters is hypocritical at best and downright dishonest at worst.

“Touting is a huge issue at Chelsea at the moment and it’s getting worse. There are fewer and fewer tickets available for supporters on a general admission, match-by-match basis.”

Telegraph Sport found tickets being advertised on Vivid Seats for what appear to be the remaining matches this season of every Premier League club.

On Monday, tickets on the site for current leaders Liverpool’s final-day game against Crystal Palace – when they could be presented with the Premier League trophy – were priced between £1,622 and £17,672.

Chelsea’s website, meanwhile, also stated last year: “Supporters found to be selling their ticket for more than face value will be subject to a club investigation and sanctions, including the removal of season tickets, memberships and access to the away match ticket scheme.

“This unfortunately occurs more often than you would expect, and the club has been forced to ban many members and season ticket holders. In some cases, the matter will be reported to the police for criminal prosecution.

“As is the case for many Premier League clubs, there are sophisticated criminal operations targeting Chelsea, making vast profits via secondary ticket platforms. Many of the websites that advertise and sell tickets online are not within the jurisdiction of UK law. This means, while we report these sites when we see Chelsea tickets on them, there is little we can do to shut down the sites, or help supporters who are denied entry to our stadium because they have purchased a re-sold or counterfeit ticket from one of these websites.

“Buying tickets from unofficial outlets runs a very high risk of paying heavily inflated prices, receiving counterfeit or duplicated tickets, and ultimately being denied access to the match.

“The only place to purchase general admission tickets is via official Chelsea FC channels, including the club website and ticket exchange. Ticket holders can only transfer a ticket to a friend or family member for no more than face value.”

‘Legitimate and reliable marketplace’

The unauthorised resale of football tickets was made a criminal offence in the UK in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster and the proliferation of foreign-based websites selling them raises questions about whether the law is fit for purpose.

Telegraph Sport was unable to buy or list a Premier League ticket on Vivid Seats using a UK IP (Internet Protocol) address and credit card when attempting to do so.

Vivid Seats says on its own website: “Vivid Seats is a legitimate and reliable ticket marketplace for EPL tickets. Vivid Seats is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, has over a million 5-star reviews on ShopperApproved, a 4.1-star rating on Trustpilot, and a 4.7-star rating on the Apple Store app. We have a Buyer Guarantee that is designed to provide full peace of mind, safety, and security for our valued customers.”

Requests for comment by Boehly prompted a statement from the company which read: “As a global business, we are always respectful and cognisant of local regulatory policies and procedures that are in place in any market to ensure we are compliant.

“As such, our policy restricts the sale of EPL tickets from UK sellers. We can confirm that we do not have any UK sellers listing EPL inventory on our marketplace. Additionally, Vivid Seats does not and has never directly marketed or advertised Premier League tickets to UK customers.

“Vivid Seats and Chelsea have a longstanding and respectful partnership, which was publicly announced in 2023, where we partnered with Chelsea on their first-ever Premier League pre-season tournament in the USA.

“Regarding pricing, Vivid Seats does not set the base price for tickets sold on its marketplace or receive any revenue from that base price; only the seller sets and receives the base ticket price.”

The Premier League and Chelsea did not comment.