Federal Trade Commission Sues Major Ticket Reseller for Selling Taylor Swift Eras Tour Tickets Using BOTS and Other Unfair Practices

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group in the Maryland Federal Court for evading purchasing limits to buy thousands of tickets to live concert events. Key Investment Group would then resell the tickets at a markup. The FTC also accused Key Investment of using automated software, known as bots, to buy up event tickets, which is prohibited under the BOTS Act as an unfair and deceptive business practice. The concert tickets resold by Key Investment include Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

Key Investment owns ticket resale sites, including TotalTickets.com. The FTC alleges that Key Investments uses thousands of Ticketmaster accounts, including fake or purchased accounts, to buy up event tickets. For one concert, Key Investment Group used 49 different accounts to evade the 6-ticket limit and purchase 273 tickets. 

Key Investment Group sued the FTC in July 2025 to block its investigation. The company alleges that the FTC “intends to use the BOTS Act to shut down the entire secondary-ticket market.”

The Department of Justice had previously filed a lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment seeking to break up the company from Ticketmaster. Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010 and now control 70% of the concert ticket-selling markets in the United States.

What Are Unfair Trade Practices?

Unfair trade practices occur when a business or person engages in dishonest, misleading, or unethical ways to obtain business. These practices may be targeted at customers or rival companies. One form of unfair trade practices includes price-fixing.

Price fixing occurs when a vendor conspires with a competitor to set the price for a product or service and fix it within a specific market. It is illegal for companies to fix prices under federal law. The Department of Justice can file lawsuits to stop anti-competitive practices. Individual persons can also sue and potentially recover up to triple damages from companies that engage in such practices.

In this instance, the FTC is alleging that Key Investment is using automated software and other tools inaccessible to the general public to corner the market on event tickets. Once Key Investment has purchased all available tickets, it can then resell those same tickets back to the public at any price it wants. As long as Key Investments sells each ticket more than what Ticketmaster was selling them for, Key Investments would be guaranteed a profit, and potentially a large one as well.

However, if the allegations are true, Key Investments would make it challenging for actual fans to purchase any tickets directly from the seller. Either the average person would be priced out of going to a concert that isn’t actually as expensive as Key Investments is making it, or the tickets go unsold and the stadium ends up with fewer seats than the number of ticket sales would otherwise suggest. If the choice is between the secondary ticket market, the happiness of consumers, and the success of the actual concert performers, the latter two should always take precedence over the secondary market.

Do I Need the Help of a Personal Injury Attorney?

If you have sustained a personal injury through the unlawful act of another, you should contact a personal injury attorney. A skilled personal injury lawyer can review the facts of your case, go over your rights and options, and represent you in court.