Justice Department Sues San Diego Ticket Broker Over 18.5 Million Tickets

The Justice Department’s 22-page complaint against REPS & Co, filed Thursday, reads less like a scalping case than an inventory operation. Prosecutors say the San Diego company sidestepped purchase limits at more than 83,000 events, spending upwards of $1.3 billion to acquire 18.5 million tickets to concerts, Broadway shows and college sporting events, then reselling them through StubHub, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek, Gametime and Ticketmaster’s own resale platform for at least $120.8 million in profit.

The figures attached to individual shows show how the alleged method worked. For a Renaissance tour date on Oct. 1, 2023, REPS is accused of using at least 1,300 accounts to buy 7,624 tickets through Ticketmaster, against a purchase limit of between four and eight, generating roughly $833,323 in resale profit. For a Pitbull concert in Syracuse on Sept. 7, 2024, the suit claims at least 700 accounts bought 5,430 tickets — close to one-third of the Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater’s capacity — for about $120,109 in profit.

The case is the latest brought under the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, the 2016 law barring technology that circumvents ticket limits. Enforcement has been sparse relative to the size of the secondary market, which is what gives the alleged account counts their weight. “The Justice Department is committed to holding accountable individuals and businesses that drive up the cost of event tickets by illegally exceeding ticket purchase limits,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said in a statement.

A spokesperson for REPS & Co could not be reached Thursday. The central question is whether the government can substantiate the account structure behind the purchases.