“As alleged in our complaint, investors were lured with promises of big profits from resales of A-list concert tickets, but little did they know their money was being used to cover Carton’s gambling debts among other things,” said Paul Levenson, Director of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office.

The SEC’s complaint seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest and penalties against Carton and Meli along with six businesses they control: Advance Entertainment LLC, AdvanceM Ltd., Misoluki Inc., Misoluki LLC, Ticket Jones LLC, and Tier One Tickets LLC.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York today announced criminal charges against Carton.