Did Jeffrey Epstein's Associates Run a Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well Ticket Resale Scam?
I’ve seen a few articles and a lot of social media posts about how Jeffrey Epstein or his associates may have been involved with some kind of Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well ticket resale scam, but I didn't really have a great sense for what actually did – or didn't – happen until I dove into the weeds. Having done so, I wanted to share what I found, along with links to the publicly available info I reviewed in support of my conclusions.
I've created a full explainer vid and a TLDR version. And if you want even more detail, check out this excellent article.
Where did this story begin?
It all starts with the latest Epstein Files dump. On December 7, 2015, a guy named Kevin Law emailed Jeffrey Epstein and invited him to invest in a deal with Law and his business partner, Joe Meli, whom Law says Epstein has met before. [December 7, 2015 email thread] Note that a separate July 20, 2010 email from Epstein indicates that he had a meeting scheduled with Meli and Law – this may be what Law meant when he says Epstein had met Meli before.
In the December 2015 email thread, we see that Meli sends a model to Law and proposes that Epstein invest $30mm for two years, in exchange for a return that he will generate for Epstein over that time. We only see the emails, not the files Law appears to have attached – the files appear to be called “Status_Report_Dead_&_Company_as_of December 7th_2015.xlsx; AEP_Detail_Projection_v6.xlsx” – I assume, "AEP" refers to "asset earning power," a way of considering return on investment.
A quick note here: Meli and Law describe the opportunity as a “factoring business,” but I think that’s just an attempt to make the proposal sound less shady than what it actually is. Factoring is where somebody sells their receivables for cash at a discounted price. The seller benefits because they get cash today, and the buyer then attempts to collect on the receivables. (This is common in some parts of the business world, though others consider it a little shady.) What Law and Meli are proposing is the same thing we see ticket resellers do all the time – there’s a totally non-PC word for this that you’re probably thinking in your head, but I won’t say it! – they’re just proposing doing it at a massive scale.
I don’t think the details are super important to understand: the main takeaway is that this guy Law is trying to get Epstein to invest with him and Meli to buy tickets to in-demand events and then sell them at a markup.
And why would Epstein invest with him? Well, here’s what caught a lot of people’s attention.
Where does Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well come into the equation?
In the initial email thread, Law gives Epstein examples of some other times he’s pulled off this ticket resale scheme, presumably to try to convince Epstein to invest with him and Meli. These examples include Coachella, Fare Thee Well, and some early Dead and Company shows. (In the email, he also mentions Hamilton and Adele – more on them later as well.) As was reported back in 2015, there was overwhelming demand for the Fare Thee Well shows, so a ticket resale scam could have made sense as an explanation for the sky high prices in the secondary market.
The email thread ends later that day, when Epstein forwards the email to Richard Kahn, his longtime accountant and advisor.
Does Epstein invest?
Over the next two days, we see more emails between Epstein and Law, where Epstein expresses interest, subject to some questions from his advisor, Kahn. [December 8-9, 2015 email thread]
The day after that, we see some emails between Kahn and Epstein, where Kahn says it feels like the terms of the proposed deal are different than what they initially proposed to Epstein. Khan tells Epstein that he thinks Meli and Law are pitching a Ponzi scheme. Epstein sends Kahn a one word response: “Pass,” indicating that he’s decided to pass on the deal and not invest with Law and Meli. [December 10, 2015 email thread]
The following day, Epstein emails Law and accuses him of reneging on the deal. [December 11, 2015 email]
Three days later, Meli emails Richard Kahn saying, “I understand that you and Mr [sic] Epstein have passed on the opportunity.” Kahn forwards that email to Epstein a few hours later. [December 14, 2015 email thread]
That’s right: Jeffrey Epstein didn’t invest with these guys because they were too shady.
OK, so Epstein didn't invest – but did these guys run a Grateful Dead/Fare Thee Well ticket resale scam?
The short answer is: no. (Kahn's gut was right!)
A year or so later, on January 27, 2017, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York issues a press release noting that Joseph Meli and a partner – not Kevin Law – have been arrested for running a Ponzi scheme based on a Broadway ticket resale scam. [January 2017 US Attorney Press Release] The following day, we see a series of emails about this between Epstein and Faith Kates, who recently left Next Model Management – a firm she co-founded – in the wake of her appearing all over the Epstein files. [January 28, 2017 email thread]
A few days later, the Securities and Exchange Commission issues its own press release, noting that it’s bringing its own set of charges and specifically mentioning that the scheme pertained to “such high-demand shows as Adele concerts and the Broadway musical Hamilton.” [January 2017 SEC Litigation Release] In February 2017, before Meli’s sentencing, Kahn forwards an email to Epstein about Meli’s fraudulent activities as related to Hamilton, noting some of the prominent, well-known investors he defrauded. [February 6, 2017 email] Fast forward to April 3, 2018, when the US Attorney issues another press release indicating that Meli has been sentenced to 6.5 years in federal prison for the Ponzi scheme. [April 2018 US Attorney Press Release] Two days later, the SEC issues its own press release, referencing both concerts and Broadway shows as part of the false promises they made to the investors they defrauded. [April 2018 SEC Litigation Release]
Meli was charged with a series of additional crimes, including for fraud effected through a business entity called “Indio Entertainment, LLC.” (Recall that in the December 5, 2017 email thread, Meli claimed that he'd run a similar scam with Coachella, which is held in Indio, California.)
So were there any ticket reselling shenanigans with Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well shows?
As I see it, the only thing linking Grateful Dead/Dead & Company shows with this entire venture is emails from Meli and Law. We know that Meli pled guilty to lying to investors about tickets to in-demand concerts and Broadway shows, specifically including tickets to see Adele and Hamilton, so it stands to reason that Meli lied to Epstein about this and that he never actually did what he said with regard to those tickets.
This isn’t to say that there wasn’t major ticket reselling going on at the Fare Thee Well shows – the tickets certainly were in high demand – but I haven’t seen anything that proves that Jeffrey Epstein or the guys who tried to fleece him had anything to do with it. If anything, everything we’ve seen suggests that they just made it up.
