SEC v. Joseph Meli and Craig H. Carton (ponzi schemes, 2018)

Settled

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In April 2018 the SEC reported that Joseph Meli was sentenced to 78 months in prison for a ticket-resale Ponzi scheme, the conduct behind two SEC cases filed in 2017, one also naming radio host Craig Carton. Both civil cases ended in settled final judgments, Meli's on 11 April 2019 and Carton's on 31 May 2019, with disgorgement deemed satisfied by criminal restitution.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

In April 2018 the SEC reported that Joseph Meli had been sentenced to 78 months in prison for a Ponzi scheme built around resales of concert and Broadway tickets. The release covers two SEC cases filed in 2017. In the first, the SEC alleged that most of the more than $97 million Meli raised went to earlier investors and to enrich Meli and others. In the second, which also named radio host Craig Carton, it alleged that the two misappropriated at least $3.6 million, partly to repay earlier investors and cover Carton's gambling debts. Meli pleaded guilty and was sentenced on April 3, 2018, with forfeiture of about $104.8 million.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the document describes payments to earlier participants made from later participants' money. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

Both SEC cases later ended in settlements, according to two later litigation releases. On 11 April 2019 two judges in the Southern District of New York entered final judgments against Meli and his companies; they were permanently enjoined from further antifraud violations and ordered to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totalling more than $58 million, which was deemed satisfied by the criminal restitution order. Relief-defendant entities and Meli's mother also settled. On 31 May 2019 a judge entered a final judgment against Carton and five of his companies in the second case, with a similar injunction and more than $4.7 million in disgorgement and interest, likewise deemed satisfied by restitution in his criminal case, where he was convicted at trial and sentenced to 42 months. The releases give only approximate totals, so no exact money figures are recorded here, and they do not say the defendants admitted wrongdoing. The sentence recorded here is Meli's.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Ponzi schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2018-04-05 Litigation release published
2. 2019-04-11 Final judgments entered against Meli and his companies in both SEC cases (settled)
3. 2019-05-31 Final judgment entered against Carton and five companies (settled)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release
• SEC litigation release LR-24451 (Meli final judgments)
• SEC litigation release LR-24485 (Carton final judgment)

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 6 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.