Alpharetta man who sold fake UGA tickets pleads guilty to federal charge
An Alpharetta man pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of wire fraud in connection with an investment and fake University of Georgia ticket scheme that prosecutors said swindled people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Matthew Neet, 43, appeared in federal court wearing a brown shirt and beige pants with his left arm in a sling.
“I’m just ready to accept responsibility,” Neet, who was arraigned in mid-December, told U.S. District Judge Michael Brown inside the courtroom Thursday. The nature of his injuries was unclear.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, two dozen people allegedly paid Neet nearly $1 million for fake investment opportunities and football tickets, and he used the money for his own purposes.
He typically advertised the tickets through emails and other online avenues, officials said. Federal prosecutors said he defrauded 19 victims out of a total of $57,291 during the ticket scheme. The other portion of the scam involved him duping investors out of $885,438 by offering purported investments in teak/timberland property in Costa Rica, according to the DOJ.
His schemes were conducted between September 2021 and October 2024, federal prosecutors said. But at least one metro Atlanta law enforcement agency said they had reports of his scams dating to 2013.
Prosecutors said one victim believed they were getting four tickets to all the UGA home football games during the 2024 season and four tickets to road games against Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss for a total of $4,000. Neet offered to sell another person the same home deal and four tickets to both the Alabama and Texas games and eight tickets for the Ole Miss contest for $4,600.
The first person wired the money to Neet’s Bank of America account while the other sent the funds to his Venmo account in three payments. But Neet never provided those tickets and pocketed the money, prosecutors said.
He is also facing additional charges outside federal court.
In June 2024, Neet allegedly sold $4,700 worth of fake UGA tickets to an athletic trainer in Gray, according to an arrest warrant from the Jones County Sheriff’s Office. The man believed he was getting season tickets and tickets to the Clemson, Alabama and Texas games, but the tickets never arrived.
In August 2024, Gwinnett County police accused Neet of “deceptively” selling $7,200 of Masters tickets he didn’t have to Blue Frog LLC, a general contractor in Suwanee. The theft happened that February before the famed tournament in Augusta, authorities said.
Three months later, Neet was arrested and charged with theft by conversion after being extradited from Louisiana, where he allegedly sold fake tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, an investigator with the Jones sheriff’s office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The singer performed at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans during her Eras Tour in October 2024.
That month, Neet was booked into the Gwinnett jail on another theft by deception charge. In the courtroom Thursday, prosecutors said that charge in Gwinnett was related to his scheme.
Gwinnett jail records show he also has holds from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and police departments in Roswell, Byron, Alpharetta and Milton.
Neet has remained in the Gwinnett jail for 43 days on a $16,700 bond, according to online records.
Outside the courtroom Thursday afternoon, Neet’s attorney, Gregory Bushway, reiterated how the plea agreement was Neet taking responsibility for his actions.
Neet’s May 5 sentencing hearing will likely provide more insight into his character, Bushway told the AJC.
