FTC Sues Major Ticket Broker, Alleging It Bypassed Purchase Limits to Hoard 18.5 Million Tickets for at Least $120.8 Million in Profit
WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission announced on October 15 that it has sued REPS & Company Inc., alleging the major ticket broker illegally circumvented ticket issuers' purchase limits and security measures to amass millions of tickets to high-demand live events and resell them at a significant profit. The complaint, filed by the Department of Justice on the FTC's referral in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, also names the company's CEO Ryan Pancheri, President Brian Archibald and Chief Operating Officer Nicholas Totagrande. The FTC alleges violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which bars circumventing security measures and technological controls used by ticket issuers to enforce posted ticket limits.
Since 2022, the complaint alleges, REPS purchased more than the per-event ticket limit for at least 83,500 events, spending more than $1.3 billion to amass more than 18.5 million tickets and generating at least $120.8 million in profit reselling them. In one example cited in the complaint, REPS used 1,300 accounts to buy 7,624 tickets to a single 2023 Beyonce Renaissance tour concert in Kansas City, Missouri, generating $833,000 in profit.
The complaint further alleges that REPS used a team of employees, most based in the Philippines, employing unlawful methods including thousands of purchasing accounts created with other people's names, addresses or phone numbers, virtual credit card accounts and phone numbers controlled by the company, and IP proxy services and multi-session browsers masking users' identity and location. When issuers detected and blocked limit-evading purchases, the company allegedly made slight changes to account holders' names or addresses to keep operating, and internal documents allegedly show officials discussing tactics to keep accounts from being blocked.
Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the company's entire business model is focused on gaming the ticket-purchasing system to obtain as many tickets as possible to resell at inflated prices, and warned that companies seeking to profit by driving up prices or depriving ordinary fans of fairly priced tickets should know the agency is watching and will act. The Commission voted 2-0 to refer the complaint to the Justice Department. The allegations in the complaint remain to be decided by the court.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission press release, October 15)
Source: Federal Trade Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国联邦贸易委员会总部 Apex Building（华盛顿）。摄影：Carol M. Highsmith，公共领域，来源：Wikimedia Commons。The Apex Building, headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
