Any person in New York who has ever tried to get a ticket to a major concert or even to a popular play or musical knows that it can be difficult to get the seat they want at the price they are willing to pay. Purchasing tickets to events like these today is different than in years past in part because there are many sources for these tickets as they are not always sold directly from a box office or one centralized ticketing outlet.
Purchasing show or concert tickets is not unusual yet two people in New York face criminal charges alleging that they fraudulently told people they had tickets to popular events. The charges suggest that the defendants collected large sums of money from people but the money was not actually used to provide tickets. In the case of one defendant, he is accused of taking as much as $2 million from people and using it to pay people who previously invested in his scheme. He is also said to have paid off debts that he accrued while gambling with some of the money he received.
The other defendant is accused of collecting more than $1.5 million from people fraudulently. Some charges involve the two defendants together while one man has been charged in a case separate from the other one. No details are known about the exact charges made and what penalties may be associated with those charges.
When facing criminal fraud charges, people might find talking to an attorney in New York a good way of understanding their defense options.
Source: CBS News, “Craig Carton arrested: New York radio host accused of fraud to repay gambling debt,” Graham Kates, September 6, 2017