FTC Sues Ticket Resale Company Over Alleged Eras Tour Price Gouging Scheme
FTC Sues Ticket Resale Company Over Alleged Eras Tour Price Gouging Scheme
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated legal action against a Maryland-based ticket resale firm, alleging the company violated federal law to acquire hundreds of thousands of tickets for high-demand events, including Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and subsequently resold them for millions in illicit profit.
According to the lawsuit, Key Investment Group is accused of circumventing Ticketmaster’s purchase limits by employing a sophisticated network of thousands of fictitious accounts, numerous credit card numbers, proxy IP addresses, and SIM banks. This alleged scheme allowed the company to obtain nearly 380,000 concert tickets between November 2022 and December 2023, spending approximately $57 million and reselling them for about $64 million.
Specifically, the lawsuit details that Key Investment Group purchased around 2,280 tickets for Swift’s Eras Tour dates between March and August 2023, far exceeding the six-ticket-per-customer limit. These tickets, bought for about $744,970, were then resold for over $1.9 million. For a single Eras Tour show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the company allegedly used 49 different accounts to secure 273 tickets, generating a net profit of over $119,000.
The FTC’s legal action comes as part of a broader push for increased enforcement of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act. The company, however, has denied the allegations, stating it has fully complied with the BOTS Act and arguing that the FTC is misinterpreting the law. Key Investment Group previously filed its own lawsuit against the FTC in July over the ongoing investigation, asserting that the BOTS Act is intended to target malicious software, not standard ticket purchasing methods.
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