City Attorney, LAPD Open Investigation of Ticket Broker

Barry’s Ticket Service is under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department for possible criminal violation of state commercial bribery and computer crime statutes.

The probe--sparked by a $1-million “fraud and unfair business practices” lawsuit filed against Barry’s by Ticketmaster accusing the Encino broker of bribing a Ticketmaster employee to gain unlawful access to choice seats--is believed to be the first involving a Southland ticket broker.

Barry Clark Rudin, owner of Barry’s Ticket Service, denied the charges Monday, but declined to comment further.

“Selling tickets at a higher price is not against the law,” said Ruth Kwan, deputy city attorney. “What is illegal is when a broker pays someone under the table so that they can get the best seats in the house. That makes it impossible for the rest of us--you and me and Old Joe out there--to buy a decent ticket.

“This kind of conduct hurts the public. That is why we requested that the police conduct an investigation into the matter.”

The city attorney’s office launched the investigation Friday, the day after a Times news report on the Ticketmaster suit against Barry’s.

Ticketmaster alleges that Barry’s “conspired” with a Ticketmaster sales operator at the firm’s Wilshire Boulevard office in Los Angeles to gain unlawful access to preferred seat locations by requesting that the sales operator withhold blocks of tickets and secretly charge them to credit card numbers later found to be associated with Barry’s.

According to the suit, which Ticketmaster filed March 15, Barry’s allegedly induced the operator--who earned about $250 a week from Ticketmaster--by paying him $25 a ticket for seats in the first 10 rows and $10 a ticket for all other seats.

The city attorney’s office suggested that if the allegations against Barry are true, the broker could be subject to prosecution under a white-collar crime statute enacted in 1990.

The “commercial bribery” law targets--among other things--anyone who gives an employee money without the consent of his employer in return for using the employee’s position to benefit himself.

Under the statute, individuals found to have bribed anyone for $1,000 or less face misdemeanor charges punishable by a maximum of one year in County Jail. Bribes proven to exceed $1,000 could result in felony charges punishable by incarceration in state prison for a term of up to three years.

In Barry’s case, Ticketmaster alleges that the broker paid a Ticketmaster employee $2,000 to $3,000 on the sly, depriving Ticketmaster customers of 156 tickets to four recent concerts in the Southland.

Fred Ross, secretary-treasurer of the California Assn. of Ticket Agencies, which represents about two dozen brokers in the Southland, said his group supports the investigation.

“Legitimate brokers abhor bribery,” Ross said Monday. “We obtain tickets legally.”