SEC v. Joseph Meli, et al. and Craig H. Carton, et al. (ponzi schemes, 2017)

Settled

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The SEC's October 2017 release reports that Joseph Meli pleaded guilty to securities fraud in a Broadway and concert ticket Ponzi scheme that the SEC had charged in two civil cases. Meli and his companies settled both SEC cases in April 2019 with more than $58 million in disgorgement and interest deemed satisfied by criminal restitution; Meli was sentenced to 78 months, and the second case ended with Craig Carton's settlement on May 31, 2019.

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

The SEC announced this development on October 31, 2017 as release LR-23975. It covers two SEC cases, one filed against Joseph Meli (and, in an amended complaint, Matthew Harriton) in January 2017 and one filed against Meli and Craig Carton in September 2017, over purported purchases and resales of tickets to Broadway shows and concerts. The October 2017 release reports that Meli pleaded guilty that day to securities fraud in the parallel criminal case; it is not itself a filing of new charges.

Outcome: SEC release LR-24451 (April 12, 2019) says that on April 11, 2019 two judges entered final judgments against Meli and his companies on consent, with disgorgement and prejudgment interest of more than $58 million collectively, deemed satisfied by the June 2018 criminal restitution order, and says Meli was sentenced to 78 months. It says Harriton and his companies settled in July 2018, Meli's wife in November 2018 and his mother agreed to settle, and that the first case was fully resolved while the second remained pending against Carton. Release LR-24485 (May 31, 2019) reports Carton's final judgment that day, which closes the second case as far as the releases show. The release gives only "more than" figures and no split, so no money field is stored. The record's sentence of 78 months is Meli's; Carton's outcome is described under his own record.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes, based on the conduct the regulator describes. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

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. 2017-10-31 Litigation release published
2. 2019-04-11 Final judgments entered against Meli and his companies on consent in both SEC cases
3. 2019-05-31 Final judgment entered against Carton and five companies, closing the second SEC case

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.