The Federal Trade Commission is suing Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, over allegations of illegal and deceptive business practices that it says has resulted in consumers paying "significantly more" than the face value of a ticket .

In a lawsuit filed in California District Court on Thursday, the FTC accuses the companies of multiple forms of illicit behavior. Seven other states — Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia — joined the FTC’s suit.

The companies "tacitly" coordinated with ticket brokers — middlemen who buy tickets when they first go on sale — by profiting off of the resold tickets in the secondary market, often at a substantial markup, the FTC wrote in its Thursday news release, which outlined details of the complaint.

The f

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