WFAN morning radio host Craig Carton was busted Wednesday in a $5.6 million Ponzi scheme that authorities say took money from deep-pocketed investors for a sham concert ticket-reselling business that he used to pay off massive personal gambling debts.
The co-host of the “Boomer and Carton” show with ex-Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason allegedly promised investors huge profits for funding the purchase of tickets to shows by pop stars including Adele, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Barbra Streisand.
Carton, 48, and strip-club exec Michael Wright, 41, were both nabbed by the FBI and charged by Manhattan federal prosecutors with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud, which carry up to 45 years behind bars.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a related civil suit against Carton and Joseph Meli, 43, who was busted earlier this year in a scam involving tickets to the Broadway blockbuster “Hamilton” and concerts including last year’s classic-rock “Desert Trip” fest in Indio, Calif.
Court papers say Carton — who racked up around $3 million in gambling debts to various casinos and “other third parties” — kicked off the con on Aug. 31, 2016, when he sent both men an email lamenting how he had “significant debt that is coming due.”
Five days later, Wright — “chief relationship strategist” for the company that runs the “Sapphire”-brand jiggle joints in NYC and Las Vegas — allegedly wrote back with eight possible plans to deal with the problem.
“Run to Costa Rica, change name, and start life all over again — may not be an option,” was among his suggestions, court papers say.
Instead, Carton used phony documents with forged signatures to make it look like he and Meli had access to $15 million worth of Adele tickets at face value from her management company, the feds said.
On Sept. 6, 2016, Carton convinced an unidentified “individual investor” to fork over $1 million, most of which Carton immediately wired to a pair of casinos and a person he owed $825,000, court papers say.
Carton also allegedly scammed a hedge fund with which he signed a $10 million revolving loan agreement on Dec. 8, 2016. Court papers say he and Meli used an initial $2.6 million investment to pay various casinos Carton owed, help pay off the first Ponzi victim and pay off other victims of Meli’s earlier scheme.
Carton never used any of the money to actually buy concert tickets, the feds said.
But after getting the hedge fund to wire another $2 million directly to an entertainment-venue company, and convincing that company to return it to him, Carton used his personal credit card as part of a “ruse” to keep his scheme going, court papers say.
In February, he bought nearly $850,000 worth of Barbra Streisand tickets — and another $16,000 worth of Metallica tickets — but “was ultimately unable to resell a significant portion of the … Streisand tickets,” court papers say.
Court papers don’t identify the hedge fund, but say Carton targeted it through a fund partner whom he “met through a charity organization.”
Carton — who, along with two of his four kids, suffers from Tourette syndrome — is the founder of the related charity TicTocStop, whose directors include Doug Pardon, head of high yield research for of Brigade Capital Management.
Pardon didn’t return a phone message and Brigade’s general counsel, Aaron Daniels, declined comment.
Carton was hauled from a Manhattan address at 3:45 a.m., prosecutor Brendan Quigley said. — more than two hours before defendants are typically rousted by the feds. The move kept him from appearing with Esiason for their sports-talk show, which starts at 6 a.m.
Esiason initially told listeners that his co-host had called in sick but later clarified, “Unfortunately he was arrested this morning. We here at the station, they’re aware of it as well. They’re cooperating with authorities. I’m taken aback and surprised by it just like I’m sure everyone else is.”
CBS Radio, which owns WFAN, issued a one-sentence statement: “We are aware of the situation and are cooperating with authorities.”
A spokeswoman declined to say if Carton would be returning to the show. He was later suspended.
Sources at WFAN said Carton’s arrest sent a shiver through execs already bracing for the loss of popular afternoon host Mike Francesa, who announced in January that he would be leaving his 5-hour show at the end of the year.
Station managers fear that Carton won’t be returning, and are pinning their hopes on Francesa staying another year so WFAN doesn’t lose both stars within months, sources said.
Francesa — a frequent target of on-air criticism from Carton — acknowledged “the news of the day” at the start of his show, but told callers not to ask him about it.
“The company has put out a statement. For the present that statement has to suffice as the only statement that will be made,” Francesa said.
“That is what the company wants until further notice. That is what they have informed me.”
Carton and Wright were released on $500,000 each, with Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck ordering Carton to undergo a “heath evaluation” and any recommended treatment.
Neither defendant nor their lawyers would comment.
Additional reporting by Mark W. Sanchez