Live Nation and Ticketmaster have been accused of allowing scalpers to hoover up millions of tickets so they can be resold on Ticketmaster’s own resale platforms at a steep markups to customers.

A new lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission and seven states accuses the country’s biggest concert promoter and ticketing website of engaging in “three illegal practices that injure artists, cause consumers to pay significantly more for event tickets, and benefit Defendant’s bottom line.” The first two are: allegedly hiding fees from customers until they check out, a tactic described as a “bait and switch approach” to advertising prices; and allegedly allowing ticket brokers to “exceed” the limits artists place on the number of tickets people are allowed to purchase at once.

The third accusation is arguably the most significant, with the FTC accusing Ticketmaster and Live Nation of earning “hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue by systematically violating” the BOTS (Better Online Ticket Sales) Act. That law, as the suit notes, makes it illegal to sell tickets purchased “in circumvention of measures used to enforced” ticket-purchase limits or other purchasing rules.

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