The US Securities and Exchange Commission has pressed fraud charges against two New York City men accused of running a Ponzi scheme with money raised from investors to fund businesses purportedly created to purchase and resell tickets to Adele concerts and a Broadway musical.

The SEC alleges that Joseph Meli and Matthew Harriton dishonestly told investors that all of their money would be pooled to buy large blocks of tickets that would be resold at a profit to produce high returns for their benefit. Instead, most of the investors' funds were allegedly used to make Ponzi payments to prior investors.  Meli and Harriton also allegedly diverted almost $2 million for such personal expenses as jewelry purchases, private school and camp tuition, and casino payments.

According to the SEC’s complaint, the scheme went so far as to state falsely that an agreement was in place with the producer of Hamilton, a musical on Broadway, to purchase 35,000 tickets. Investors' money was supposedly paying part of that cost with the return on investment promised within eight months. The SEC is alleging that no such agreement or purchase ever happened.

Meli and Harriton allegedly raised more than $81 million from at least 125 investors in 13 states.

“As alleged in our complaint, Meli and Harriton raised millions from investors by promising big profits from reselling tickets to A-list events when in reality they were moving investor money in a circle and creating a mirage of profitability,” said an SEC man.

At roughly the same time, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has pressed criminal charges against Meli.

The SEC’s complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges Meli and Harriton along with their four purported ticket reselling businesses (Advance Entertainment, Advance Entertainment II, 875 Holdings, and 127 Holdings). The complaint seeks the 'disgorgement' of ill-gotten monetary gains plus the payment of interest and penalties. Meli’s wife and another company are named as relief defendants in the complaint for the purposes of recovering investors' funds that are allegedly in their possession.