Ticket Broker Elite Events Settles with FTC for $300K Over BOTS Act Violations

The Georgia-based ticket broker Elite Events has settled a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and will pay $300,000 in civil penalties.

According to a complaint, the FTC alleged that Elite Events “used a variety of unlawful tactics to bypass ticket purchasing limits for more than 2,400 different events and resold those tickets on the secondary marketplace at a significant profit.”

The FTC said Elite Events purchased millions of dollars worth of tickets to high profile events using hundreds of purchasing accounts. Additionally, the FTC said the broker created fake names or names of the firm’s employees, as well as virtual credit card numbers. They also used IP proxy services and multi-session browsers to help bypass controls set up by the primary sellers, the FTC added.

In one instance, the FTC alleged Elite Events used 75 accounts to purchase 277 rubles to a Metallica concert at Virginia Tech University between September 2024 and March 2025, although the ticket seller had limited purchases to no more than six tickets.

“After Elite Events spent between $50 to $270 per ticket, they resold the tickets in the secondary marketplace for $100 to $400 per ticket, according to the complaint,” the FTC said.

The FTC is imposing more than $10.7 million in civil penalties against Elite Events, Kevin McKerley, and Aaron Fera, which will be partially suspended after payment of $300,000 due to their inability to pay the full amount. If they lied abut their finances, the full amount will be due immediately, the FTC said.

Elite Events, Fera, and McKerley are also permanently prohibited from engaging in the unlawful activities outlined in the complaint, including accessing control systems to exceed purchasing limits, using multiple ticket purchasing accounts, and purchasing a ticket from a card or account with the name of anyone else other than Fera or McKerley.