Feds sue San Diego company for alleged massive scalping plot

Key Points:

• The Trump administration has filed a federal lawsuit against REPS & Company Inc. and three executives for allegedly using illegal bot networks to bulk-buy tickets and resell them at inflated prices, generating over $120 million in profits.
• The U.S. Department of Justice, following an FTC referral, claims REPS violated the BOTS Act by creating thousands of fake accounts and using VPNs and proxy IPs to circumvent ticket-selling platforms' security measures.
• Between January 2022 and October 2025, REPS reportedly bought 18.5 million tickets for 83,000 events, including concerts, sports, and theater, spending over $1.3 billion and reselling tickets on secondary marketplaces at significant markups.
• Specific examples in the complaint include purchasing thousands of tickets for Beyoncé and Pitbull concerts, far exceeding ticket limits and reselling them for substantial profits.
• The lawsuit seeks monetary penalties, civil relief, and a permanent injunction to prevent REPS from continuing its alleged illegal ticket scalping practices.