The level of demand for tickets to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s massive musical Hamilton is insane. Like, Miranda teaming up with senators just to stop the insane amount of scalping insane. So, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to take that hustle and make it a little bit bigger.
Did we say a little bit? What we meant to say was “an $81 million-dollar Ponzi scheme built on tickets that didn’t exist.” According to Reuters, Joseph Meli and Steven Simmons were arrested on January 27 and charged with securities fraud, conspiracy and wire fraud. The two men are accused of running a Ponzi scheme that was centered around buying up blocks of tickets to Hamilton and other popular events and re-selling them for profit. However, the Securities Exchange Commission says only a tiny portion of the $81 million raised went toward tickets. The SEC says that $48 million went to pay early investors while other portions of the investments went toward gambling in Atlantic City, jewelry and other personal items.
Meli — along with another defendant named Matthew Harriton — is also facing a civil case from the SEC that has roped in two companies named Advance Entertainment that the two men own.
According to court papers, Meli told an unnamed participant in the scheme who participated with prosecutors that “it would be impossible for anyone on planet earth unless you told them … to know what we did.”
Never forget, schemers, SEC has its eyes on you.
