SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 8 – The United States versus Live Nation trial began
on March 2 with jury selection, before U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York Judge Arun
Subramanian. Then after a week of testimony it
went on pause, and the DOJ and several states settled with
Live Nation.
Inner City Press submitted a
Freedom of Information Act requests to US DOJ on March 27,
2026, and also to states including Washington State (see
below).
DOJ granted expedited
processing, then asked Inner City Press to narrow its
request, which it did.
But just after the jury verdict that
Live Nation is a monopolist, DOJ denied the FOIA request
in full. Inner City Press immediately appeal - and that
was denied.
On May 27, Inner City Press filed a FOIA
lawsuit in SDNY, complaint on CourtListener here.
While awaiting action, Ohio among
others has provided some documents while withholding
others under its Public Records Law:
Inner City press filed a public records
request with the Ohio AG on April 23, 2026, seeking
records about the litigation, the settlement, and consumer
complaints. The Ohio AG responded on June 8, 2026, with a
partial production. The records produced tell a story of
years of unanswered Ohio consumer complaints — and at
least one formal request to the AG's own Antitrust Section
about a new Live Nation project in Cleveland. \
November 2022: Ohioans Were Already
Warning In November 2022 — the same month as the
Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale collapse that finally put
Live Nation in the national headlines — Tammy Pater of
Cincinnati wrote to the Ohio AG. "Started noticing
increase in resale tickets available before it's even on
sale. How is that," she wrote. "Then we were unable to get
tickets to any Hardy show within a four-hour drive because
presale sold out immediately... all that was left was
resale which was 5x face value for garbage seats." She had
tried emailing Ticketmaster and local media. No one
responded. She wrote to the AG anyway. The AG's response:
a form email thanking her for helping identify "patterns
of bad business practices."
The same month, Megan Cummins of Dayton
wrote a detailed, 400-word complaint about the Live Nation
monopoly. "In 2020, the DOJ found that Live
Nation-Ticketmaster was violating the terms of its 2010
merger consent agreement and was bullying independent
venues," she wrote. "Today the company is larger and more
powerful and more abusive than ever." She called for a DOJ
breakup. The Ohio AG's response: another form email.
A Senator's Letter About Bruce
Springsteen In July 2022, Peggy Lee Crawford of
Circleville, Ohio — listed in the AG's database with the
designation "Senator" — filed a complaint about Bruce
Springsteen ticket prices. General admission tickets she
had attended for $175 four years earlier were now $928.
Main floor seats ran $2,253. "They have a monopoly on
tickets and are holding consumers hostage to their prices,
multiple layers of fees," she wrote. "Is there anything
you, Dave Yost, can do to advocate for a hearing into why
consumer prices for concerts are out of control?" The Ohio
AG's response: a form email.
March 2026: A Cleveland Citizen Asks the
Antitrust Division to Act The most significant
record produced is from March 10, 2026 — the day after the
DOJ announced its partial settlement with Live Nation.
Brian Kaczmarski of Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood
sent a formal letter to AG Dave Yost's Antitrust Section
requesting an investigation of the proposed 6,200-seat
outdoor amphitheater on the Cleveland riverfront — a
partnership between Bedrock and Live Nation. "This
project — a partnership between Bedrock and Live Nation —
presents significant concerns regarding predatory market
behavior and the potential for illegal retaliation against
independent Ohio businesses," Kaczmarski wrote. He noted
the proposed venue sits less than one mile from the
established Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica, which currently
hosts only 20-30 events per year. "Adding a second, nearly
identical venue in such close proximity is not market
growth; it is strategic cannibalization."
He specifically cited Live Nation's
documented history of steering major tours away from
venues that don't use Ticketmaster as "a direct threat to
Cleveland's entertainment ecosystem." "Like many
Ohioans, I am concerned that this federal deal fails to
address the core monopoly," Kaczmarski wrote of the
just-announced settlement. "I urge your office to continue
its independent scrutiny of Live Nation's expansion in
Ohio." The AG's office forwarded the letter to its
Antitrust Section for "due diligence." Whether any
investigation followed is not reflected in the produced
records.
The Scam Economy Ticketmaster Built
The consumer complaints also document a sprawling scam
ecosystem enabled by Ticketmaster's impenetrable customer
service. In a March 2022 incident, Michael McCarthy of
Liberty Township, Ohio, searched online for Ticketmaster's
customer service number and reached a scammer who
persuaded him to buy $350 in Google Play gift cards —
exploiting his grief after his wife had recently lost her
mother. In January 2023, Dawn Gould of Maineville Googled
Ticketmaster and found a number, called it, and lost
$2,100 via Zelle in three transactions. Mckinzie West of
Saint Clairsville found a phone number on
"ticketmaster.pissedconsumer.com" and lost $900 to a
scammer demanding Walmart gift cards. In July 2024,
Tabatha Cole of Union County called a number she thought
was Ticketmaster and was told the tickets she had were
deactivated. She bought Target gift cards at Kroger and
lost $250. In October 2024, Miranda Dickerson of
Beavercreek lost $3,336.96 in a Taylor Swift concert
ticket scam conducted through a hacked Facebook account,
sending money via Venmo and Cash App bitcoin. In
every case, the Ohio AG's office provided a form response
directing the consumer to local law enforcement, the FBI's
IC3, and the FTC. Not one of the scam complaints in the
produced records resulted in AG enforcement action.
The AG's Own Records Show ICP's Request Was
Initially Rejected One of the produced matter
reports is ICP's own records request. The file shows that
on April 19, 2026, the AG initially attempted to deny the
request on the grounds that Ohio was a settling state. ICP
responded directly to the denial email: "Inner City Press'
Public Records Act request was and is not premised on Ohio
being one of the states that, along with DOJ, settled
early with Live Nation. In fact, many of the most active
states in the SDNY trial I have been covering have already
responded to our simultaneous FOIA requests." The matter
was then redelegated to MacKenzie Clayton in the
Constitutional Offices Section for reconsideration —
resulting in the June 8, 2026 partial production.
The AG withheld as privileged all analyses of Ohio
consumer harm and the remedies available to Ohio consumers
under the partial settlement. Those are the records most
directly relevant to whether Dave Yost's office got a good
deal for the people of Ohio. Inner City Press has
challenged those withholdings and demanded a privilege
log, possibly with an eye on the court of claims
process. Inner City Press will continue to cover the
Ohio AG's records — and the Live Nation case. Watch this
site.
Watch this site.
March 18 extra on "war room(s)" on X for
Subscribers here
and Substack here
On March 6, Inner City
Press was in the courtroom at 8:30 am, and spoke to push
for further unsealing, including of demonstratives. See
new book, "TicketMonster: US v Live Nation 1," ebook,
audiobook and paperback here.
The case is United States of America et al v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. et al., 24-cv-3973 (Subramanian)
