Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
March 1, 2010 United States Attorney's Office
District of New Jersey
Contact: (973) 645-2700

Four Indicted in $25 Million Scheme Defrauding and Hacking Ticketmaster, Tickets.com, and Other Ticket Vendors

NEWARK—Three men who used fraud, deceit, and computer hacking to make more than $25 million by acquiring and reselling more than 1.5 million of the most coveted tickets to concerts, sporting events, and live entertainment throughout the United States surrendered to federal authorities this morning after being charged in an indictment, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

The 43-count indictment describes a scheme in which the defendants and their company, Wiseguy Tickets, Inc. (Wiseguys), targeted Ticketmaster, Tickets.com, MLB.com, MusicToday, and other online ticket vendors. According to the indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury on Feb. 23 and unsealed this morning, the defendants are alleged to have fraudulently obtained prime tickets to performances by, among others, Bruce Springsteen, Hannah Montana, Bon Jovi, Barbara Streisand, Billy Joel, and Kenny Chesney. The criminal scheme also targeted tickets to live theater, including productions of Wicked and The Producers; sporting events, including the 2006 Rose Bowl and 2007 Major League Baseball playoff games at Yankee Stadium; and special events, including tapings of the television show Dancing with the Stars. The events took place in Newark and East Rutherford, New Jersey, and across the United States, including in New York City, Anaheim, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Tampa, according to the indictment.

The indictment charges Kenneth Lowson, 40, Kristofer Kirsch, 37, and Faisal Nahdi, 36, all of Los Angeles, and Joel Stevenson, 37, of Alameda, Calif., with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to gain unauthorized access and exceed authorized access to computer systems. The indictment also charges 42 additional counts of wire fraud; gaining unauthorized access and exceeding authorized access to computer systems; or causing damage to computers in interstate commerce.

Defendants Lowson, Kirsch, and Stevenson surrendered this morning at FBI headquarters in Newark and are expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Shipp at 2:00 p.m. in Newark. Defendant Nahdi, who is not currently in the United States, is expected to surrender to authorities in the coming weeks. All of the defendants will be arraigned in the coming weeks before the U.S. District Court Judge Katharine S. Hayden, to whom the case has been assigned.

“At a time when the Internet has brought convenience and fairness to the ticket marketplace, these defendants gamed the system with a sophisticated fraud operation that generated over $25 million in illicit profits.â€