British authorities conducted a raid on StubHub’s London offices recently, seizing records of the ticket website’s top sellers. Among these sellers was a Canadian scalper whose operations were exposed in the Paradise Papers. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confiscated computer records to investigate suspected illegal activities by scalpers using StubHub. The crackdown in the U.K. targets secondary market websites that acquire and resell tickets, with a new law aimed at curtailing the use of aggressive software by scalpers to gain an advantage over regular fans in ticket purchases.
Julien Lavallée, a prominent StubHub “top seller” from Canada, is under scrutiny in two separate investigations by the CMA and the National Trading Standards agency in the U.K. The Paradise Papers leak revealed Lavallée as a multinational scalper based in Quebec, responsible for selling millions of dollars worth of tickets in Canada, the U.S., and U.K. Business records from the leak identified his main ticket scalping channels as StubHub, Vivid Seats, and Ticketmaster.
Authorities noted Lavallée’s suspicious activities, such as using automation tools to make mass ticket purchases within a short timeframe, raising concerns about unfair practices. Lavallée declined to address queries regarding his ticket reselling tactics but maintained that his operations adhere to all relevant laws and regulations.
The U.K. investigation extended to other ticket resale sites, including Get Me In, Seatwave, Viagogo, and StubHub. StubHub faced a warrant after refusing to comply with information requests related to ticket sellers. The company’s spokesperson refrained from commenting on the raid, citing the ongoing CMA investigation.
Lavallée’s exposure came about due to a U.K. transparency law that mandates platforms like StubHub to disclose information about resellers operating as businesses, a requirement absent in Canada. Lavallée utilized a registered company, I Want Ticket Inc, located in the British Isle of Man, to list tickets on StubHub in the U.K., dissolving the company shortly after being investigated by journalists.
Critics, including Adam Webb of the Fan Fair Alliance, denounced StubHub for enabling large-scale scalping activities that undermine the platform’s purported purpose of facilitating fan-to-fan ticket sales. StubHub emphasized its adherence to high standards for sellers and condemned the use of bots to procure tickets, advocating for anti-bot legislation to ensure fair access to tickets for all fans.