A CARTON OF ‘BILK’
WFAN host in Ponzi arrest
WFAN morning radio host Craig Carton was busted on Wednesday in a $5.6 million Ponzi scheme that took money from deeppocketed investors for a sham concert ticket-reselling business, funds he used to pay off his massive gambling debts, authorities said.
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 music stars, including Adele, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Barbra Streisand.
Later Wednesday, WFAN said in a statement that Carton had been suspended “pending our investigation.”
Esiason will be joined Thursday by NFL analyst and former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, the radio station said.
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.
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 Wright and Meli an e-mail 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 strip joints in New York 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 documents with forged signatures to make it look as if 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 “individual investor” to fork over $1 million, most of which Carton immediately wired to two casinos and a person he owed $825,000, court papers say.
Carton also allegedly scammed a hedge fund with which he had signed a $10 million revolving loan agreement. Court papers say he and Meli used an initial $2.6 million from the fund to reimburse various casinos Carton owed, and help pay off the first Ponzi mark and other Meli victims.
Then, 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 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 one of its partners whom he had through a charity organization.”
Carton — who, along with two of his four kids, suffers from Tourette’s syndrome — is the founder of the related charity TicTocStop, whose directors include Doug Pardon, of Brigade Capital Management.
Pardon didn’t return a phone message. Brigade’s general counsel, Aaron Daniels, declined to comment.
Carton was hauled from a Manhattan address at 3:45 a.m., prosecutor Brendan Quigley said. 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 cohost 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.”
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 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.
Carton and Wright were each released on $500,000 bond. Neither defendant nor their lawyers would comment.