crime
Tickets resold at exorbitant prices – prison sentence
The manager and promoter of superstar Ed Sheeran have testified in the trial. Photo
© Joel C Ryan/AP/dpa
The British media dubbed her the “Ticket Queen.” She earned millions of pounds from her scam. The judge speaks of “greed”.
Using dozens of identities, she purchased tickets to concerts by prominent artists such as Ed Sheeran – and resold them on secondary platforms at a huge profit. Because of this, a woman in England was sentenced to four years in prison.
Between 2015 and 2017 alone, the “Ticket Queen”, as the British media called her, resold tickets for more than 6.5 million pounds (currently 7.6 million euros).
During this period, the 54-year-old’s company purchased 47,000 tickets using 127 names and 187 different email addresses. During a raid, officers found additional tickets worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“You acted solely out of profit maximization and greed,” the judge said, the PA news agency reported from the courtroom in the city of Leeds. “Their goal was to get as much money out of customers as possible.”
The woman and her helpers used, among other things, the identities of a ten-year-old child and a deceased relative to buy tickets. They persuaded students and other young people to purchase tickets on their behalf via sales platforms.
Ed Sheeran’s manager and promoter testify
Music star Ed Sheeran’s manager and promoter also testified in the trial about how they tried to prevent the 2018 UK tour from being resold at inflated prices. “Today’s ruling is good news for live music fans, who are all too often cheated and exploited by greedy ticket sellers,” said promoter Stuart Galbraith.
One of the 54-year-old’s employees has to go to prison for two years and five months, and her husband and sister also received suspended sentences for aiding and abetting.