SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 21 – 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.
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.
On June 12 its FOIA suit, Matthew Russell
Lee v DOJ, was deemed "related" to the case and now Tunney
Act process before Judge Subramanian. The responsive
records, long ago requested and improperly withheld,
should prove useful for reporting on the Tunney Act
process and how and why DOJ settled with Live Nation.
On September 16, after submission of the
joint status letter, Judge Subramanian docketed: "]Any
motion for summary judgment is due on or before December
4, 2026. The initial pretrial conference scheduled for
September 17, 2026, is hereby canceled. The Clerk of Court
is respectfully directed to terminate the motion at ECF
13. (Signed by Judge Arun Subramanian on 9/16/2026)."
September 16 extra / analysis on X for
Subscribers here
and Substack here
On October 21 DOJ filed a list of people
involved in talks - quite relevant to the documents
responsive to Inner City Press' FOIA request - including
Michael Rapino (Live Nation President and
Chief Executive Officer) Joe Berchtold (Live Nation
President and Chief Financial Officer) Dan Wall (Live
Nation Executive Vice President, Corporate and Regulatory
Affairs) Richard Grenell (Live Nation Director) Adam Paris
(Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, Live Nation
advisor) James McDonald (Partner at Sullivan &
Cromwell LLP, Live Nation advisor) Kyle Mach (Partner at
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, Live Nation advisor) Gabe
Fleet (Partner at Latham & Watkins LLP, Live Nation
advisor) Kellyanne Conway (Consultant at KAConsulting LLC,
Live Nation advisor)-- full list and filing on Patreon here
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)
