Craig Carton, who has co-hosted a popular sports talk radio show with former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, has been arrested and charged with fraud in New York, multiple sources are reporting this morning. The FBI arrested Carton, 48, in Manhattan early this morning.
He was allegedly involved in an investment scam where he and an associate claimed to be running a ticket broker business. The business, sources claimed, never existed, and investors were defrauded for more than a million dollars.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed that Carton has been charged with securities fraud and wire fraud, according to NBCNewYork.com.
According to a tweet from ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell, the complaint against Carton is as follows:
“From at least in or about September 2016, through at least in or about January 2017, Craig Carton and Michael Wright, the defendants, along with CC-1, worked together to solicit invidividuals and entities to invest in the bulk purchase of tickets to live events, which would be re-sold at a profit on the secondary market. In soliciting these investments, Carton and CC-1 both provided potential investors with purported agreements that gave CC-1 and Carton access to purchase blocks of tickets to live events. In fact, these agreements were fraudulent, and CC-1 and Carton had not, in fact entered into these agreements. After receiving investor funds based on the false representations, Carton, Wright, and CC-1 misappropriated those funds, using them to, among other things, pay personal debts and to repay prior investors as part of a Ponzi-like scheme.”
Summary of ticket brokerage ponzi scheme that allegedly involved radio host Craig Carton, according to the federal complaint. pic.twitter.com/ZtaInT7RWq
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 6, 2017
Carton has been the co-host of a show on New York’s WFAN with Esiason since 2007. On Wednesday morning, Jerry Recco was filling in on the show for Carton, according to the New York Daily News. Prior to his work in New York, he worked on radio shows in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Denver as well as Buffalo, where he got his start in the industry in 1991. Carton, who has four children, is the founder of a charity for children with Tourette Syndrom called TicTocStop. Who of his children have the condition, per NBCNewYork’s reporting.
“We are aware of the situation and are cooperating with authorities,” CBS Radio said in a statement. CBS owns WFAN.
This story will be updated as more details become available.
