Thousands of tickets to Taylor Swift and other events illegally resold by broker, FTC alleges
A Maryland ticket broker is facing legal action for allegedly engaging in the illegal purchase and resale of hundreds of thousands of tickets for profit, including tickets to Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated Eras Tour. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Key Investment Group, claiming that the company reaped millions of dollars in profit by reselling tickets at inflated prices.
The lawsuit, filed on August 18 in U.S. District Court in Maryland, accuses Key Investment Group and its affiliates of bypassing Ticketmaster’s security measures, which are designed to prevent resellers from exceeding ticket-purchase limits. The company operated under various names, including Epic Seats, TotalTickets.com LLC, and Totally Tix LLC.
According to the FTC, over the course of one year, Key Investment Group purchased nearly 380,000 tickets from Ticketmaster at a cost of approximately $57 million. These tickets were then resold on secondary marketplaces for around $64 million.
In response to the allegations, Key Investment Group has stated that it will vigorously defend itself against what it perceives as regulatory overreach. The company denies the FTC’s claims that it exploited standard internet browsers and argues that the government’s case poses a threat to the secondary ticket market for live events.
The FTC’s complaint details specific instances where Key Investment Group allegedly purchased and resold tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Between March and August of 2023, the company reportedly bought 2,280 tickets to 38 Taylor Swift concerts, generating over $1.2 million in profit. In one instance, the defendants used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets for a single Taylor Swift show, surpassing the six-ticket limit per customer per event.
The alleged scheme involved the use of thousands of Ticketmaster accounts, both fictitious and third-party accounts acquired by the group. Key Investment Group is also accused of utilizing numerous credit card numbers, including virtual card numbers, manipulating IP addresses to conceal the identity of the ticket purchaser, and employing SIM technology to obtain verification codes.
The FTC asserts that these actions violated the FTC Act and the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, which prohibits individuals from circumventing security measures on ticket issuer websites to evade event ticket limits or ordering rules.
As the legal proceedings unfold, the implications of the case could have far-reaching consequences for the ticket resale market and the enforcement of fair ticket purchasing practices. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.
