The FTC sued Elite Events and Tickets LLC, doing business as Smart Scalpers, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Augusta Division. The claim: violating the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, the 2016 law codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45c that bars circumventing a ticket seller’s security measures or purchase limits.
The complaint names owners Kevin W. McKerley and Aaron L. Fera personally. Per the FTC’s press release, the pair ran hundreds of agents, many abroad, using fictitious accounts, virtual credit cards, IP proxies and multi-session browsers to blow past ticket limits on more than 2,400 events. One example: 75 accounts bought 277 Metallica tickets at Virginia Tech, where the seller capped purchases at six, then flipped them for up to $400 apiece.
The stipulated order carries a $10.7 million judgment, but only $300,000 is due now, the rest suspended because the defendants can’t pay it. Lie about their finances, and the full $10.7 million comes due immediately. That inability-to-pay clause is standard FTC drafting, but it’s also the leverage that keeps a judgment from becoming toothless.
The order’s structure makes the point directly: the FTC permanently bars Fera and McKerley personally, not just their LLC, from using fictitious accounts, IP proxies or multisession browsers to dodge purchase limits. It’s a signal the agency is treating scalping software the same way it treats any other unfair-practices violation: pursue the operators personally, not just the LLC.
The Commission voted 2-0 to authorize the filing. No trial date set yet.
James Okafor