The Federal Trade Commission accused ticket broker REPS & Company and three executives of bypassing online purchase limits to acquire millions of tickets for resale. The Justice Department filed the case on the FTC's referral on October 15 in the Southern District of California.
The complaint alleges that, since 2022, the defendants spent more than $1.3 billion on over 18.5 million tickets for at least 83,500 events at which they purchased more than eight tickets. It puts their resale profit at no less than $120.8 million.
The FTC says REPS used thousands of accounts and technology that concealed purchasers' identities or locations to get around controls operated by Ticketmaster, AXS and other issuers. The case invokes the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, which prohibits bypassing technological measures that enforce posted ticket limits.
The government is asking for a permanent injunction against future violations, monetary relief and civil penalties. These are requests in a civil complaint; the court has yet to determine liability or order those remedies.
