The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested the judicial approval of three agreements reached with ticket scalpers concerning their orchestration of an online scheme that earned the New York men and their companies millions in allegedly ill-gotten proceeds. The FTC’s legal action against Cartisim Corp. and Simon Ebrani, Just In Time Tickets, Inc. and Evan Kohanian, and Concert Specials, Inc. and Steven Ebrani began with complaints filed earlier this month alleging that the defendants illegally purchased more than 150,000 tickets to concert and sporting events and resold them at a higher price, violating of the 2016-enacted Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act.
According to the FTC’s Jan. 22 press release, the defendants used automated ticket-buying software to search for and reserve tickets, software to hide their IP addresses, and hundreds of fake Ticketmaster accounts and credit cards to circumvent posted event ticket limits. This harmed consumers, the FTC argued, by preventing them from purchasing tickets at lower prices.
Andrew M. Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said that “these ticket brokers used bots and other technical tricks to scoop up thousands of tickets to popular events as soon as they went on sale. Not only does this deprive loyal fans of the chance to see their favorite performers and shows, it is against the law.”
The settlements’ $31 million in civil penalties will be partially suspended due to the defendants’ reported inability to pay. The reduced figure requires them to pay a total of just over $3.7 million. The proposed orders also prohibit the defendants from committing further BOTS Act abuses, including “using methods to evade ticket limits, using false identities to purchase tickets, or using any bots to facilitate ticket purchases.”
