Ticket Broker Settles With Ticketmaster

Barry’s Ticket Service averted going to trial with Ticketmaster today by quietly settling a fraud suit in which the Encino-based broker was accused of bribing a Ticketmaster employee to obtain prime tickets to rock shows.

Without admitting guilt or acknowledging participating in any unlawful activity, Barry Clark Rudin, owner of Barry’s Ticket Service, quietly resolved the 16-month legal dispute on Oct. 15 by agreeing to pay $135,000 to a charitable fund set up by Ticketmaster. Rudin also agreed not to interfere with Ticketmaster’s sale of tickets to the public.

Fred Rosen, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Ticketmaster, said he hoped the settlement would send a warning to more than three dozen ticket-brokering companies in Southern California that buy and sell tickets to concerts, theater and sporting events for profit. “Hopefully this settlement will serve as a lesson to all brokers not to tamper with our personnel,” Rosen said.

Rudin denied any wrongdoing and agreed to settle because he said the cost of fighting the suit in court would have exceeded the $135,000 Ticketmaster requested.

“Besides,” he added, “my insurance company substantially contributed to the settlement.”