Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: Ticket broker to pay $300,000 to settle FTC charges of deceptive business practices, (Jul 27, 2026)

By Jody Coultas, J.D.

Elite Events allegedly used illegal tactics to bypass ticket purchasing limits.

The FTC announced that ticket broker Elite Events and Tickets LLC and its operators will pay $300,000 to resolve allegations that the firm purchased tickets to high-demand events by illegally circumventing measures designed to limit the number of tickets that can be purchased (FTC v. Elite Events and Tickets, LLC, Case No. 1:26-cv-00142-JRH-BKE (S.D. Ga. Jul. 27, 2026)).

Elite Events, which also does business as Smart Scalpers or smartscalpers.com, purchased millions of dollars of tickets from Ticketmaster, AXS, and other ticket issuers for major concerts, sporting events, and other live entertainment. Ticket purchases are regulated by the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (BOTS Act), which makes it illegal for any person to “circumvent a security measure, access control system, or other technological control or measure on an Internet website or online service that is used by the ticket issuer to enforce posted event ticket limits or to maintain the integrity of posted online ticket purchasing order rules.”

For many events, ticket issuers limit ticket purchases to between 4 to 8 tickets per buyer or account holder. In order to circumvent those rules, Elite Events used hundreds of accounts, opened under fictitious names or in the names of employees or agents that Defendants recruited to harvest tickets, used multiple virtual credit card accounts generating thousands of credit card numbers for their ticket purchases; and used proxy IP addresses to mask the locations and identities of Defendants’ ticket purchasing employees and agents.

According to the FTC complaint, Elite Events exceeded the maximum ticket purchasing limit on over 2,400 different events (from over 250 individual performers), amassing over 86,000 tickets. Defendants then resold these tickets on secondary marketplaces for millions of dollars and at a significant mark-up, often charging consumers 100% to 500% more than the original purchase price.

The FTC alleged that Elite Events owners Kevin W. McKerley and Aaron L. Fera were directly involved in the unlawful conduct. In fact, they even appeared in an April 2025 CBS Mornings documentary and boasted about their ticket reselling operation and use of circumvention software.

The proposed order imposes more than $10.7 million in civil penalties against Elite Events, Fera and McKerley, which will be partially suspended after payment of $300,000 due to their inability to pay the full amount. The full amount will be due immediately if they are found to have lied about their finances. In addition, Elite Events, Fera and McKerley also are permanently prohibited from engaging in the unlawful activities outlined in the complaint including:

• Circumventing security measures, access control systems, or other technological controls or measures to exceed posted ticket purchasing limits or to circumvent ticket purchasing order rules;

• Using multiple ticket purchasing accounts, multiple IP addresses or multisession browsers to circumvent ticket purchasing limits; and

• Purchasing or paying for a ticket on an Internet website or online service from a credit card account, debit card account, bank account, prepaid card account or a digital wallet or online payment system in the name of anyone other than Fera or McKerley.

“Consumers should be able to purchase tickets to events without having to contend with bad actors who drive up prices and make it harder for fans to see their favorite artists and athletes,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Elite Events operators utilized a range of unlawful tactics to deprive consumers of the opportunity to purchase tickets for events at prices set by the ticket issuers.”

Companies: Elite Events and Tickets, LLC

News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews GeorgiaNews