The United States Federal Trade Commission sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group for evading purchasing limits on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, according to a complaint filed in Maryland federal court on Monday.
The FTC said the Baltimore-based company, which operates ticket sites including TotalTickets.com, used thousands of Ticketmaster accounts — some either fake or purchased — to buy and resell Swift tickets.
The complaint found that Key Investment Group and its affiliates used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets to one of Swift’s concerts in Las Vegas in March 2023. The ticketer evaded the 6-ticket purchase limit, bringing-in more than $119,000 in revenue. In total, the FTC said Key Investment Group made more than $1.2 million reselling 2,280 Swift concert tickets in 2023.
The lawsuit against Key Investment Group is a part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on ticket resellers in March. Last month, the company sued the FTC to block its investigation, saying it did not violate the BOTS Act.
According to the complaint, FTC staff told KIG this spring that the agency planned to sue for “tens of millions of dollars” in penalties and other remedies that would effectively shut the company down. KIG maintains it does not use bots and does not exceed posted ticket limits; instead, employees operate multiple legitimate accounts “the same way countless resellers and even ordinary fans do,” the suit says.
| READ: Maryland Companies Sue FTC, Alleging “Over-Reaching” on BOTS Act Crackdown |
“In an unprecedented move, the FTC has twisted the intent of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, a law designed to target malicious software, into a weapon against legitimate businesses and consumers,” a spokesperson from Key Investment Group said in a statement on Monday.
| READ: From the Eras Tour to DOJ Lawsuit: Swifties’ Take on Breaking-Up Live Nation, Ticketmaster |
Swift’s Eras Tour presale on Ticketmaster, referred to as “The Great War,” caused complete chaos among millions of fans across the globe. Fans faced error codes, hours-long queues, and exorbitant ticket prices, leading to critiques of Ticketmaster’s handling of the sale.
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation are currently the subjects of an antitrust lawsuit, brought forth by the Department of Justice and 39 states. The suit, which came to fruition following an investigation into the Eras Tour sale, aims to break-up the pair, citing anticompetitive and monopolistic practices.
