


Report: Oak View Group Received Kickbacks From Live Nation/Ticketmaster
The revelation follows Tim Leiweke’s bid-rigging indictment
The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment of former Oak View Group (OVG) CEO Tim Leiweke has uncovered details of secret kickbacks paid to the executive and OVG by Ticketmaster.
The details:
As covered here, the DOJ has indicted Leiweke over allegations he rigged the bidding process to oversee Austin’s Moody Center.
As per Digital Music News (DMN), the government investigation has uncovered internal emails revealing millions of dollars were paid in kickbacks to OVG from the Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster.
DMN states: “These communications reveal that Ticketmaster funneled secret payments to Leiweke and Oak View Group for pushing venues to exclusively use Ticketmaster instead of other ticketing partners.”
Venue reps were reportedly not made aware of any relationship between OVG and Live Nation.
The DOJ alleges the undisclosed relationship gave Ticketmaster “a lock on ticketing for many arenas nationwide, undercutting competition and transparency across the industry.”
The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment of former Oak View Group (OVG) CEO Tim Leiweke has uncovered details of secret kickbacks paid to the executive and OVG by Ticketmaster.
The details:
As covered here, the DOJ has indicted Leiweke over allegations he rigged the bidding process to oversee Austin’s Moody Center.
As per Digital Music News (DMN), the government investigation has uncovered internal emails revealing millions of dollars were paid in kickbacks to OVG from the Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster.
DMN states: “These communications reveal that Ticketmaster funneled secret payments to Leiweke and Oak View Group for pushing venues to exclusively use Ticketmaster instead of other ticketing partners.”
Venue reps were reportedly not made aware of any relationship between OVG and Live Nation.
The DOJ alleges the undisclosed relationship gave Ticketmaster “a lock on ticketing for many arenas nationwide, undercutting competition and transparency across the industry.”
The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment of former Oak View Group (OVG) CEO Tim Leiweke has uncovered details of secret kickbacks paid to the executive and OVG by Ticketmaster.
The details:
As covered here, the DOJ has indicted Leiweke over allegations he rigged the bidding process to oversee Austin’s Moody Center.
As per Digital Music News (DMN), the government investigation has uncovered internal emails revealing millions of dollars were paid in kickbacks to OVG from the Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster.
DMN states: “These communications reveal that Ticketmaster funneled secret payments to Leiweke and Oak View Group for pushing venues to exclusively use Ticketmaster instead of other ticketing partners.”
Venue reps were reportedly not made aware of any relationship between OVG and Live Nation.
The DOJ alleges the undisclosed relationship gave Ticketmaster “a lock on ticketing for many arenas nationwide, undercutting competition and transparency across the industry.”
Tim Leiweke
Oak View Group
Ticketmaster
Live Nation
US Department of Justice
Moody Center
Oak View Group (OVG) International
Live Nation Entertainment
Antitrust Scrutiny in Live Music
Executive Leadership Changes
Government Regulation Of Ticketing
Industry Litigation
Legal Scrutiny Of Ticketing Practices
Rising Scrutiny Of Ticketing Practices
Antitrust Enforcement In Live Music
Antitrust
Bid Rigging
Criminal Investigation
Government Scrutiny
Legal & Litigation
Litigation
United States
Austin, US
👋 Disclosures & Transparency Block
- This story was written with information sourced from Digital Music News.
- We covered it because of the magnitude of the allegations involving key players in the live events space.
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