NY Reaches $2.76 Million Settlement With 6 Brokers Accused Of Illegally Reselling Tickets
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Six ticket brokers have to pay up for violating scalping laws in New York.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced a $2.76 million settlement with TicketToad.com, Charm City Entertainment, Just In Time Tickets, A2Z Tix, Flying Falco Entertainment, and All Events Utah as part of its investigation into the concert and sports ticketing industry.
The settlement, which was announced Tuesday, stems from an investigation detailed in a January report that found abuses preventing consumers from buying tickets at affordable prices or sometimes not at all.
The attorney general found that the six brokers sold hundreds of thousands of tickets in New York without a proper license since 2011. Five of the brokers used software, called "ticket bots,'' to quickly purchase tickets for resale at huge markups, which is prohibited in New York.
The investigation found one broker bought 520 tickets to a Beyoncé concert at Barclays Center within three minutes and another purchased 522 tickets to a June 2013 One Direction concert at Jones Beach within five minutes.
"Our office has zero tolerance for ticket resellers that use illegal bots to scoop up large numbers of tickets for popular events before consumers can obtain them, and then resell those tickets to those very same consumers at a large markup," Schneiderman said in a statement. "New Yorkers deserve a fairer ticket marketplace."
The settlement requires the companies to stop using bots and to obtain proper licenses as ticket resellers.
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