3 Calif. men plead not guilty in NJ to federal charges of massive concert ticket fraud

3 plead not guilty in NJ concert ticket fraud case

NEWARK, N.J. — Three men charged with using computer programs to illegally buy more than a million concert tickets for resale have pleaded not guilty in federal court in New Jersey.

Kenneth Lowson, Kristofer Kirsch and Joel Stevenson, all of California, each entered their pleas Tuesday through their lawyers.

Bail has been set at $500,000 for Stevenson and $1 million for Kirsch. Lowson has a bail hearing Wednesday.

They face conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges.

A fourth man, Faisal Nahdi, is overseas and expected to surrender in the next few weeks.

Prosecutors say the men formed Wiseguy Tickets to electronically bypass safeguards meant to restrict the number of tickets that each customer can buy. They are accused of reselling tickets to brokers for a profit estimated at $29 million.