The Federal Trade Commission said Elite Events and Tickets LLC, which also does business as Smart Scalpers or smartscalpers.com, and its operators, Kevin W. McKerley and Aaron L. Fera, will pay $300,000 in civil penalties to resolve FTC allegations that they illegally bypassed ticket-purchase limits. The complaint alleged that the company purchased millions of dollars’ worth of tickets to high-demand events and resold them on the secondary marketplace at a significant profit.

The FTC alleged that the conduct violated the Better Online Ticket Sales Act. The law prohibits any person from “circumvent[ing] a security measure, access control system, or other technological control or measure on an Internet website or online service that is used by the ticket issuer to enforce posted event ticket limits or to maintain the integrity of posted online ticket purchasing order rules.” The complaint alleged that Elite Events used unlawful tactics to bypass limits for more than 2,400 different events.

“Consumers should be able to purchase tickets to events without having to contend with bad actors who drive up prices and make it harder for fans to see their favorite artists and athletes,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. The complaint alleged that Elite Events used 75 accounts to purchase 277 tickets to a Metallica concert at Virginia Tech University between September 2024 and March 2025, despite a six-ticket purchase limit. According to the complaint, the tickets cost between $50 and $270 each and were later resold for between $100 and $400 each.

Alleged methods and proposed restrictions

According to the complaint, ticket issuers including Ticketmaster and AXS use measures such as capped ticket-quantity selectors and checks involving verifiable accounts, unique credit cards, email addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses. The FTC alleged that Elite Events employed hundreds of agents, many based abroad, and used several methods to evade those controls:

  • Hundreds of accounts using fictitious names, addresses and phone numbers, or information belonging to company employees
  • Numerous virtual credit card accounts that generated thousands of unique card numbers
  • IP proxy services that concealed purchase IP addresses and made transactions appear to come from different consumers and locations
  • Multi-session browsers that opened multiple independent browsing sessions within one internet application

The FTC also alleged that Fera and McKerley were directly involved in the conduct and appeared in an April 2025 CBS Mornings documentary discussing their ticket-reselling operation and use of circumvention software. The proposed order imposes more than $10.7 million in civil penalties against Elite Events, Fera and McKerley, with the amount partially suspended after payment of $300,000 because of their inability to pay the full amount. The full amount would become due immediately if they are found to have lied about their finances.

The proposed order would permanently prohibit the company and its operators from circumventing security measures or other technological controls to exceed posted ticket limits or evade ticket-purchasing rules. It would also prohibit using multiple accounts, IP addresses or multi-session browsers for that purpose, and purchasing or paying for tickets with financial or payment accounts in anyone’s name other than Fera or McKerley. The FTC said its Commission vote authorizing the complaint and stipulated final order was 2-0, and that the documents were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Augusta Division. The FTC noted that a complaint means the Commission has “reason to believe” the named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law; stipulated final orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.