Feds Sue San Diego Broker Who Allegedly Bought 18.5M Tickets For BOTS Act Violations

San Diego-based ticket broker REPS & Co. has been charged with violating the BOTS Act after allegedly purchasing more than 18.5 million tickets to high-demand events using thousands of accounts created to circumvent purchasing limits on Ticketmaster and AXS.

The scheme, the feds allege, resulted in profits of more than $120 million.

The complaint, filed by the Department of Justice upon notification and referral from the FTC, charges REPS, along with its CEO Ryan Pancheri, President Brian Archibald and Chief Operating Officer Nicholas Totagrande.

The complaint alleges that, since 2022, REPS “used a variety of unlawful tactics to bypass security measures from ticket issuers in order to exceed ticket limits set by ticket issuers.” REPS purchased more than eight tickets for at least 83,500 events, spending more than $1.3 billion to amass more than 18.5 million tickets for these events, generating at least $120.8 million in profit by reselling these tickets on the secondary marketplace, the complaint says. For Beyoncé’s tour stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City during the “Renaissance” tour, the feds say REPS used 1,300 accounts to purchase 7,624 tickets and generated $833,000 in profit.

“REPS’ entire business model is focused on trying to game the ticket-purchasing system in order to obtain as many tickets as possible to resell at inflated prices to consumers,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Companies that seek to profit by driving up prices or depriving ordinary fans of access to reasonably priced tickets to their favorite shows or events should be on notice that we are watching and will take action to stop this unlawful conduct.”