Obama ticket sellers threatened with prosecution

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People trying to sell tickets to Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th president of the United States may face a fine of up to $100,000 or a year in prison, if a U.S. senator has her way.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California introduced a bill on Monday that she hopes Congress will pass this week, ahead of Obama's January 20 inauguration. It proposes prohibiting the sale of inaugural tickets.

"The inauguration of the president is one of the most important rituals of our democracy. The chance to witness this event should not be bought and sold like tickets to a football game," she said in a statement.

"This legislation is meant to immediately stop the unscrupulous behavior of those who obtain these tickets for free and then seek to profit by selling them, often at dramatically inflated prices," she said.

Some 240,000 tickets are to be made available for free to the public through the offices of senators and congressmen for the inauguration, which is expected to draw record crowds eager to witness the swearing in of the United States' first black president.

Tickets are already being advertised on the Web sites of some online brokers for thousands of dollars, although online auction site eBay agreed last week to withdraw all listings for inauguration ceremony tickets.

The tickets will not be distributed until the week before the inauguration and people will have to pick them up in person from congressional offices.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)