1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: Ah, captain, say me, ma monitor down to my sailing 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: d n me my monitor and me me and you'll 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:17,799 Speaker 1: have to pay big money down. If you want to 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway, you can get a ticket 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: for four hundred dollars, but that's in the cheap seats. 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: It's more like ten thousand dollars for the good seats. 7 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,479 Speaker 1: On StubHub. The resale ticket price, by the way, the 8 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: price on the tickets face is seventy five dollars. Ticket 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 1: scalping is an estimated fifteen billion dollar business. So naturally 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: rich Wall streeters wanted in on this action and it's 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: cost them. Joining us from the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan 12 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: is Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg News legal reporter Bob You 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: wrote that a few big money types including Paul Tutor, 14 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: Jones and Michael Dale were allegedly and I love this phrase, 15 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: snookered like out of towners in Times Square. Tell us 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: about what happened. Well, that's exactly right. The number of 17 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: people connected to head funds and people working for head 18 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: funds so an opportunity to buy into these small companies 19 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: that were buying blocks of tickets and selling them at 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: a huge increase, uh stuff like as you said, Bruce Springsteen, 21 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: Hamilton's on Broadway, Adele Concerts, Taylor Swift. Um. There was 22 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: a huge opportunity, as everybody knows. For you know, when 23 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:35,839 Speaker 1: you try to go to see one of these shows, 24 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: it's going to cost you probably a lot more than 25 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: than is on the face of the ticket, and head 26 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: funds people wanted into that. Unfortunately, there have been at 27 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: least three alleged scams of that that snookerd. As you said, 28 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: your people here on Wall Street and um, so tell 29 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: us what happened? It was it sort of like a 30 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: Ponzi scheme. Well, it was basically like a Ponzi scheme. 31 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: Craig Carton, who is a very popular sports was a 32 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: very popular sports radio host here in New York. Uh 33 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: man named Joseph Mellie who was a Hampton's socialite, and 34 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: a former New York City math teacher named Jason Nissan 35 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: all uh invited in investors and and you know, claim 36 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: that they had an inside track to getting these tickets 37 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: at a at a discount, so you know, buy low 38 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: sell hi. Uh, they buy them with the investor money 39 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: hold onto them and then when the people really wanted 40 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: to go see those shows, they tell them at at 41 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: at a big markup. Unfortunately, uh, prosecutors claim in these 42 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: cases they just took the money and uh they lived 43 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: at Craig Carton just use the money to pay off 44 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: gambling debts and other debts. That the other people never 45 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: use this money to buy the tickets they were supposed 46 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: to buy. So authorities have studied ticket scale being many times, 47 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: including most recently New York A g Eric Schneiderman, who 48 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: said ticketing is still a rig system. Is there any 49 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: suggestion of a way to fix it? Well, it's you know, 50 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: I mean there's kind of a patchwork of laws across 51 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: the country, and that's why there's so many small players 52 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: in this in this market because you know, the laws 53 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: that apply to you in New York State are going 54 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:25,920 Speaker 1: to be different from the ones that that apply in 55 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:30,959 Speaker 1: San Francisco. Uh and um, you know, so it's it's 56 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: difficult sometimes to run a national business who's only handful 57 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: of companies like stub Hub and ticket i q and 58 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: seed geek that that are the big players. But then 59 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: there's a lot of these sort of smaller players that 60 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: are the ones that are charged with you know, succering investors. 61 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: I'll probably never get to see Hamilton's at this rate. 62 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: Let's turn now to the bribery scandal in the n 63 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: C double A. Yesterday, federal prosecutors announced criminal charges of bribery, 64 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: can spiracy, and fraud against ten coaches, managers, financial advisors, 65 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: and representatives of sportswear companies. So tell us about the charges. Well, 66 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: the uh ten people were charged. Uh, it involved four 67 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:19,039 Speaker 1: schools UM and UH. The allegations here were that, you know, 68 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: bribes were paid to get access to up and coming 69 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: athletes to get them to go to schools that uh, 70 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: that we're sponsored by a particular UM athletic ware companies. UH. 71 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: And also that uh it's charged that people were steered 72 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: to a disreputable UM financial advisor who turned out to 73 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: be cooperating with the FBI. UM. The financial advisor, a 74 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: guy named Marty Blazer, UH financial advisor in Pittsburgh, had 75 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: gotten in trouble with the SEC and then started cooperating 76 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: with the SETS. And so the prosecutors say that he 77 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: teamed up with some undercover FBI agents and they went 78 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,119 Speaker 1: out basically for a couple of years out on sting 79 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: operations and that's how they learned some of these people 80 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 1: in they have hundreds of they have wire taps, hundreds 81 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: of wire taps and recordings. It's it's a it's it's 82 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: an ongoing investigation. Um is part of the problem where 83 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: the main problem the n c double as restrictions on compensation, 84 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: is that what leads to this well tournally, you know, 85 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: I mean, when people are not paid with the market 86 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: will bear. Um, there are people who are going to 87 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: come in and even if it's against the law, they're 88 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: going to, uh you know, sometimes try to try to 89 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: get around and try to try to bribe their way 90 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: into it, because once they leave college, once they go 91 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: pro there's just so much money to be made with 92 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: these people. And what is a possible defense here, Uh, 93 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,559 Speaker 1: it's not that far, it's pretty far ahead. But still 94 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 1: it's a good question. I mean, it's certainly going to 95 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 1: depend depend what is on those tapes. Um. You know, 96 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:11,479 Speaker 1: if you are uh you know, on a recording, UM 97 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: taking bribes from the FBHI and you've got marked money 98 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: from from the FBI, that's gonna be a little hard 99 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: to to defend against. But I suppose, um, you know, 100 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: their lawyers are gonna going to do the very best 101 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: that they can. So now we have um Rick Pettino 102 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: being ousted by Louisville. Is that connected to this investigation? 103 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: Um I had heard that, and I'm not sure. I 104 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: don't know what what brought that about, but but certainly 105 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: the timing is interesting. Yeah, Bob, it seems as if 106 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: there are a lot of scandals and there have been 107 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: in the n C Double A and perhaps it's time 108 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 1: for new rules. Well, you know, it could well be. 109 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,040 Speaker 1: When he was asked about that yesterday, June Can, the 110 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: acting US Attorney in Manhattan, said, look, we're not We're 111 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: not in the business of suggesting new rules for for 112 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,039 Speaker 1: college sports. Were in the business of putting people in 113 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: prison when they violate the law and we can convict them. 114 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: Uh So, I mean that's the track that this is 115 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: going to follow in the short run. We're going to 116 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: see where these criminal cases go and we'll see his 117 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: college sports responds to it by, you know, cleaning their 118 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: own house. He also said the madness of college basketball 119 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: went well beyond the madness of March, sort of taking 120 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: after his uh his mentor there who has left free Berrara, 121 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: So that was Jim, That was June Kim, the acting 122 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: US Attorney in Manhattan, at a press conference. Thanks so 123 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: much for joining us, Bob van VORs. He's a Bloomberg 124 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: News legal reporter, and he joins us from the Manhattan 125 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: Federal Courthouse.