DOJ Sues Broker That Allegedly Netted $120M Flipping Tickets to Beyoncé & More Tours

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused a San Diego-based ticket broker of using illegal workarounds to buy up and resell millions of concert tickets for an eye-popping profit of $120 million.

The DOJ’s civil division, acting on a referral from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), sued broker REPS & Co. on Thursday (Oct.

15).

The lawsuit, obtained and first reported by Billboard , seeks unspecified financial penalties for violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act.

Related President Trump Signs Executive Order to Crack Down on Ticket Scalpers, Enforce BOTS Act Weezer to Receive Legend of Live Award at 2026 Billboard Live Music Summit Hilary Duff to Receive Outstanding Pop Tour of the Year Award at 2026 Billboard Live Music Summit The BOTS Act is a 2016 federal law that makes it illegal to circumvent a primary ticket issuer’s security measures.

While the statute was rarely invoked in its first decade of existence, President Donald Trump made its enforcement a priority via a 2025 executive order .

Since then, the FTC has brought legal actions against various ticket brokers who’ve allegedly used large numbers of fake accounts to exceed ticket-buying limits set by companies like Ticketmaster and AXS.

Previous cases lodged by the FTC — against brokers Key Investment Group and Elite Events — alleged that those companies made profits in the range of $3.5 million to $6 million flipping tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of tickets.

But Thursday’s lawsuit against REPS & Co. alleges BOTS Act violations at a far larger scale: According to the complaint, REPS has made $120 million in profit by buying and reselling more than 18.5 million tickets since 2022.

According to the DOJ, REPS’ business model revolves around hiring offshore employees in the Philippines to open thousands of Ticketmaster and AXS accounts in others’ names.

The company allegedly uses analytics software and data scraping to prioritize the most in-demand tickets that will net the highest resale prices from fans, with targeted concerts including Beyonce ’s 2023 Renaissance world tour and shows by Luke Bryan and Post Malone .

In total, REPS is accused of running the scheme for 83,000 different events since 2022.

In one notable example, the DOJ says REPS bought up 5,430 tickets for a single Pitbull show at Empower FCU Amphitheater in 2024 — nearly one-third of the venue’s total capacity.

Related FTC Sues Ticket Reseller Over Taylor Swift Eras Tour Scalping: ‘Unscrupulous Middlemen’ “Much of Defendants’ business operation revolves around circumventing ticket issuer ticket limits and other controls,” reads the DOJ complaint.