ÜBER DIESE EPISODE
Dave Brooks and entertainment attorney Michael Seville are back with another episode of Decibel & Docket, diving into one of the wildest scam stories of the year before turning their attention to the ticket resale fight engulfing this year's US Open.
Dave and Mike open by unpacking the bizarre case of Dejon Love, a 35-year-old man who spent over four years posing as a San Francisco 49ers wide receiver — despite never having an NFL contract or even a combine invite. Armed with nothing but a phone, rented cars, and a shockingly unconvincing "signing day" video, Love allegedly used his fake football-star persona (and a second identity as a wealthy real estate investor with "Swiss family money") to lure victims on dating apps. Federal prosecutors say he scammed 26 victims out of more than $1.3 million — and his fictional football career got so much traction online that Google's AI reportedly started listing him as an actual 49ers player.
Dave and Mike break down how the scheme survived undetected for years, why banks flagged suspicious payments but couldn't tie them to a crime, and what wire fraud charges could mean for Love's future — with Mike walking through the legal elements of wire fraud and both hosts guessing at possible sentencing outcomes based on comparable fraud cases like Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland. The conversation turns into a broader riff on the scam economy, with Dave sharing his own experience fighting fake Instagram accounts impersonating him during his Billboard days, and both hosts offering listeners a common-sense gut check for spotting too-good-to-be-true online romance and financial pitches.
Main Story: The US Open, Ticketmaster, and the "Scourge" of Resale
The back half of the episode is a deep dive into ticket resale, sparked by skyrocketing US Open prices. Dave stakes out a hardline position: he wants resale banned outright, arguing it functions as a pure middleman tax that inflates prices without benefiting consumers, even as he acknowledges the secondary market provides useful data on real consumer demand. Mike pushes back with a consumer's-eye view, describing how resale platforms have genuinely helped him and his family catch last-minute tickets to shows and games — while agreeing the system, in aggregate, has spiraled out of control.
The two dig into the mechanics of why reform keeps stalling. They cover recent California legislation — including a resale ban that died and a heavily watered-down bill (AB 1349) that Dave says industry advocacy group NIVA is now lobbying Governor Gavin Newsom not to sign. Mike, drawing on his legal background, offers a sharp breakdown of why the ongoing DOJ antitrust case and settlement against Live Nation/Ticketmaster may not even apply to what's happening at the US Open, since the settlement's definition of "live entertainment" centers on concerts, comedy, and theatrical shows — potentially leaving sporting events like tennis outside its reach entirely. They also discuss the FTC's separate suit against Ticketmaster over enforcement of its own resale rules, and how Ticketmaster's fee structure — collecting a cut every time a ticket resells — creates a built-in incentive to let scalping flourish rather than curb it.
The conversation turns to the US Open specifically: whether the USTA could unilaterally bar resale on all its tickets the way some artists do (it currently does so only for premium seats), what the organization's nonprofit status and 99-year Flushing Meadows lease might mean for its public obligations, and who — the City of New York, State AG Letitia James, or another party — might actually have legal standing to challenge the practice. Dave closes the segment fired up, comparing the resale problem to other uniquely American failures of political will and predicting the resale market will keep exploding around marquee events until someone finds the courage to act.
