StubHub Accused of Hiding CEO's Stake in Ticket Scalping Fund from Customers

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed Monday alleges that StubHub Holdings Inc. deceived consumers by failing to disclose its CEO's financial interest in a ticket scalping operation, according to bloomberglaw.com. The suit, brought by a fan identified as Sanquini, claims that CEO Eric Baker's involvement with a reselling fund was disclosed in a regulatory filing but was never publicized to customers, Billboard reported.

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BillboardStubHub Hit With Customer Class Action Fraud Lawsuit Over CEO’s Ticket Broker Side Gigbloomberglaw.comStubHub Hit With Scalper Arrangements Consumer Deception Suit

Investigations by CBC News, cited by thedeepdive.ca, found that Baker is part-owner and managing director of the fund, which profits from the same scalping practices StubHub claims to police. This directly contradicts the company's marketing, which promotes the platform as a fan-to-fan marketplace free from corporate scalpers.

thedeepdive.caStubHub’s CEO Also Runs a Ticket Scalping Hedge Fund, SEC Filings Show

"Defendants’ failure to disclose this conflict of interest, while affirmatively marketing StubHub as a fan-to-fan marketplace, deceived plaintiff."

kjwl.comStubHub Hit With Customer Class Action Fraud Lawsuit Over CEO's Ticket Broker Side Gig | K-Jewel 99.3 FM

The lawsuit argues that StubHub's silence on Baker's stake undermined the trust of customers who believed they were buying tickets from individual sellers, not a marketplace whose CEO benefits from large-scale reselling.

"A CBC News investigation has now found that the company’s own CEO has a financial stake in doing exactly that."

Sanquini's filing seeks financial damages for alleged fraud, unjust enrichment, and violations of consumer protection laws, digitalmusicnews.com reported. According to Radio Facts News, the case targets the integrity of the secondary ticket market, an industry already under scrutiny. The suit aims to represent a nationwide class of fans who bought tickets on StubHub unaware of Baker's financial ties, kjwl.com added.

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digitalmusicnews.comStubHub CEO’s Ticket Broker Connections Lead to Customer Class Action LawsuitRadio Facts NewsStubHub CEO’s Hidden Scalping Fund Sparks Nationwide Class Action Over Fraud