‘Major milestone’: ticket touts lose fraud conviction appeal
Two ticket touts who made at least £11m by using websites such as StubHub and Viagogo to sell seats at gigs by artists including Ed Sheeran have had their appeals against a conviction for multiple counts of fraud dismissed.
In a landmark verdict that could have significant ramifications for the practice of ticket touting, the court of appeal rejected the appeals of Peter Hunter and David Smith against their February 2020 conviction.
The duo were prosecuted by National Trading Standards, after a 2016 investigation by the Observer exposed the practices they had used to fleece fans.
NTS found Hunter and Smith had used “dishonest and fraudulent tactics” to purchase multiple tickets from primary ticket sellers such as Ticketmaster, Eventim and AXS.
Read more on theguardian.com
