Craig Carton, NYC Sports Radio Host, Ran Multi-Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme, Feds Say

NEW YORK CITY — Popular New York City sports radio host Craig Carton was arrested Wednesday morning at his Manhattan home due to alleged involvement with multi-million dollar ticket fraud scheme, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

The 48-year-old co-host of WFAN's "Boomer and Carton" is facing charges of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. Another man named Michael Wright, a 41-year-old resident of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, was also hit with the same charges.

Carton and Wright duped investors into paying them millions of dollars based on phony claims that Carton could use his connections to secure large blocks of tickets to concerts and sporting events and sell them for profit on the resale market, federal prosecutors said. The two schemers used the investments to repay personal debts and pay off prior investors — a standard move in Ponzi schemes — federal prosecutors said.

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"As alleged, Craig Carton and Michael Wright deceived investors and raised millions of dollars through misrepresentation and outright lies. Their schemes were allegedly propped up by phony contracts with two companies to purchase blocks of concert tickets, when in fact, Carton and Wright had no deals to purchase any tickets at all," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a statement. "As alleged, behind all the talk, the Wright and Carson show was just a sham, designed to fleece investors out of millions ultimately to be spent on payments to casinos and to pay off other personal debt.”

Carton and Wright began their scheme in September of 2016, according to a federal criminal complaint. The two co-conspirators exchanged messages discussing their debts to various creditors when Carton told Wright "don’t forget I have $1m coming tomorrow from ticket investor... will need to be discussed how to handle," according to the US Attorney's Office.

Later that year Carton and a hedge fund closed on a $10 million loan agreement where the hedge fund would provide Carton the money to buy tickets and he would resell them for a profit, according to federal prosecutors. Money sent to Carton by the hedge fund was often wired to personal accounts held by Carton and Wright and then used to pay off personal debts, according to federal prosecutors.

"Carton and Wright thought they could get off easy by allegedly paying off their debts with other people’s money," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said in a statement. "They then attempted to pay off investors with money that would eventually become future debt, as alleged. We see this time and time again, the rise and fall of a Ponzi scheme destined for failure."

On one occasion, Carton tricked the hedge fund to send $2 million directly to a sports and entertainment company for the purchase of tickets based on a fraudulent agreement that Carton had with the company, prosecutors said. Carton then contacted the company, explained that the $2 million wire was a mistake and got the company to wire the money back to a bank account held by Carton and Wright.

"We are aware of the situation and are cooperating with authorities," a CBS RADIO spokesperson told Pix 11 news.

Carton has hosted "Boomer and Carton" with former New York Jets quarterback Boomer Esaison since 2007. Esasion opened Wednesday morning's radio show by explaining that Carton was out sick, but later learned on-air that his broadcast partner had been arrested.

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