WFAN morning radio host Craig Carton allegedly duped the operator of Barclays Center in Brooklyn into wiring him $2 million that was stolen from a prominent hedge fund, according to federal authorities.
Carton — who
was arrested last Wednesday on charges that he orchestrated a $5.6 million Ponzi scheme to pay off his personal gambling debts — used his connections with venue operator Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment for the fraudulent wire transfer, according to a complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Last Thursday, The Post
reported that Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, or BSE, which also runs Nassau Coliseum, was likely part of the probe, but officials didn’t respond to requests for comment at the time.
On Tuesday, BSE said it is cooperating with the SEC’s investigation, and “can’t comment any further at this time.”
According to the SEC’s complaint,
first reported late Monday by Billboard magazine, Carton tricked hedge fund Brigade Capital Management into paying $2 million for Metallica and Barbra Streisand tickets and wiring the money to an account controlled by BSE.
The co-host of the “Boomer and Carton” show with ex-Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason then allegedly told arena officials the transfer had accidentally been sent to the wrong account and convinced them to wire the money to another ticket brokerage he controlled, called Tier One Tickets.
The $2 million “was not used to purchase tickets to the two agreed-upon Barbra Streisand and Metallica concerts,” according to the SEC’s complaint. “In actuality, Carton misappropriated the hedge fund’s $2 million: $950,000 was wired to his personal account.”
Carton, who is said to have racked up more than $3 million in personal gambling debts, allegedly used the funds to repay investors and a few casinos, while another $1 million was wired to an unidentified individual referred to in the SEC’s complaint as “Associate 1.”
In a written statement, Carton’s lawyer, Robert C. Gottlieb, has called the government’s allegations “a gross misunderstanding of what happened,” adding that “Craig is a victim who was deceived, manipulated and used by individuals seeking to gather assets for their own fraudulent schemes.”
In its 26-page complaint, the SEC outlined an elaborate series of tricks through which Carton allegedly conned Brigade Capital Management for a total of $4.6 million. After first approaching the hedge fund last September, Carton convinced its investors to finance a loan agreement to buy up tickets for shows by Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Roger Waters, Metallica and Streisand.
After cutting a number of allegedly phony deals, the SEC said Carton in December convinced the hedge fund to invest in a separate deal for the “purchase and resale of $2 million worth of tickets to two specific, upcoming performances by Barbra Streisand and Metallica” at the Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum.
“In reality … Carton had no such agreement with” Barclays Center operator BSE, according to the SEC.
To persuade the hedge fund otherwise, Carton allegedly fabricated documents and purchase orders, complete with fake signatures from BSE management.
When Brigade officials asked to speak with BSE officials on the phone, “Carton falsely represented, in three separate emails on the morning of Dec. 19, 2016, that this was not possible because [BSE’s] execs ‘are in Orlando’; ‘they are in meetings most of the day apparently’; and ‘they are in meetings till 4:30 and then flying home,’” according to the SEC suit.
Eventually, Brigade agreed to wire the $2 million to Barclays Center, according to court papers.
Later that day, Carton allegedly called BSE and “told [them] to expect a $2 million wire,” according to the complaint. “Carton falsely claimed the wire had been sent ‘in error’ and that Carton’s investor meant to send the money to another bank account. Carton stated that the money should be ‘refunded’ to a bank account in the name of Tier One Tickets.”
Carton’s scheme allegedly succeeded, and later he tried to buy up tickets to cover the hedge fund’s investment “using his personal credit card to purchase a fraction of the $2 million worth of tickets to the two concerts the hedge fund had agreed to invest in,” according to the suit.
That included $16,000 worth of Metallica tickets and nearly $845,000 worth of Streisand tickets for two different concert dates, according to the SEC.
“Carton was ultimately unable to resell a significant portion of the Barbra Streisand tickets he purchased,” the SEC said.
The SEC has also filed a suit against Carton and Joseph Meli, 43, who was busted earlier this year in a scam involving tickets to the Broadway blockbuster “Hamilton” and concerts including last year’s classic-rock “Desert Trip” fest in Indio, Calif.