A newly released tranche of records tied to Jeffrey Epstein is rippling into the live-entertainment world this week, after email exchanges surfaced showing a 2015 pitch from Joe Meli to the New York financier for a high dollar ticket resale “investment.”
The pitch involved Meli – who was later arrested and jailed for what turned out to be a massive ponzi scheme – seeking a $30 million investment to bankroll bulk ticket purchases to events including the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary Fare Thee Well shows, Dead & Company dates, and Coachella.
Meli’s pitch to investors like Epstein promised big returns, pointing to his connections in the music and live entertainment business – including work promoting concerts in the tony Hamptons on Long Island and connections with Broadway insiders.
The documents were published as part of U.S. Department of Justice compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the department says resulted in the public release of millions of responsive pages.
Included in the released files were details that Epstein and his associates did not participate in Meli’s offer, and even later made fun of others who were caught up in the scam. An email from Richard Kahn in early 2017 to Epstein shared the text of a Bloomberg article documenting Meli’s scheme, with his addition, “Looks like there are many not too shrew=(sic) billionaires….”
From ticket “investments” to federal fraud convictions
Joe Meli rose to prominence in the New York entertainment circle beginning with work as a concert promoter. He was behind several small scale but high profile shows in the Hampton’s, including shows featuring Billy Joel and Dave Matthews. Getty photos from one such event in 2007 depict Meli alongside Joel, as well as celebrities like Alec Baldwin, Renee Zellwiger, and Katie Lee.
A decade later, Meli was charged of defrauding some 130 investors of nearly $100 million. He and associates had claimed connections with insiders that would allow them to bulk purchase significant quantities of tickets to high profile events to resell at a profit. In April 2018, Meli was sentenced to 78 months in prison, along with supervised release and massive forfeiture tied to the proceeds prosecutors said were obtained through the scheme.
He later received a 37 month prison sentence (with 25 months to be served concurrently) tied to a scheme involving Broadway tickets following the breakup of his previous scheme, in addition to more than $4 million in additional restitution and fines.
“Joseph Meli, a recidivist fraudster, spun the web of lies that buttressed this scheme while on pretrial release in a prior theatre ticket investment fraud case in this District,” says U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss. “With today’s sentencing, the curtain has come down on Joseph Meli’s act.”
Meli’s case was also connected to a similarly high profile case involving WFAN radio host Craig Carton. Found to be running his own scheme related to the purchase and resale of tickets (that was instead funnelling investor funds to repay gambling debts), Carton attempted to claim he was himself a victim of Meli rather than a perpetrator of a separate Ponzi operation. Carton was found guilty of all charges, and received a 3.5 year sentence.
Carton has returned to WFAN sports talk radio following his release from prison. It is unclear if Meli is still in custody, or if he has been released.
