Taylor Swift performs during night one of The Eras Tour in Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Friday, July 14, 2023. Thousands of fans crowded the stadium to enjoy the sold-out concert. (Grace Smith/The Denver Post)
It was March 11 and John Banks could see a $200,000 deal slipping through his fingers.
“Am I missing something here?” he texted Tim Hager, a mortgage executive he’d paid $37,000 for concert and sports tickets. “I’m definitely on the edge of my seat my man.”
Banks was missing something: the tickets. And Hager didn’t have them either, according to nearly 200 text messages that BusinessDen obtained in a records request.
“No need to hear my excuse on this but I’ll get you your money back plus interest,” Hager texted on March 18. “Send me the total with any $ you lost if you pre-sold anything.”
But three days later, Hager backed out of a meeting with Banks at a south Denver bank and cut off contact, according to a May 2 lawsuit. He has since moved to Puerto Rico.
How Banks, a ticket reseller in Commerce City, came to know Hager, at the time the CEO of American Financing in Aurora, is not apparent from that lawsuit and the texts attached to it as exhibits, and both men declined to discuss their ticket-scalping enterprise gone wrong. But it’s not the only lawsuit this month that accuses Hager of ripping off his business partners.
Banks first texted Hager on Feb. 22 to see if the latter could get him tickets for resale. Hager, a former radio exec who ran iHeart Radio’s nine Denver stations from 2014 to 2020, boasted that he “can buy pretty much anything at face value” because of his extensive contacts in sports leagues and the music industry. “Nationwide tell me what you want,” he texted.
“The ones worth paying face (value for) without knowing logistics are Taylor Swift,” Banks texted back, referring to the pop superstar’s ongoing and record-breaking Eras Tour.
Tim Hager was the CEO of American Financing, a mortgage company in Aurora. (Mustard Seed Media)
Banks also asked about tickets to the then upcoming NCAA Tournament and Hager said he could get 150 tickets for $29,475: “If you say we can make $ I’m in. We split cost and profit.”
Banks texted back, “150 strips…$29,475 let’s rock!! Let me know how we proceed!”
Banks, who claims now that he had a contract in place to sell those same tickets for more than $200,000, paid Hager $37,324 for concert and basketball tickets, his lawsuit claims. Because payment apps have limits, Banks had to send the money across several of them, which Hager referred to as “the Venmo, PayPal, Cash App shuffle!” in their text messages.
Though Hager claimed to have bought the tickets — “I’m sending the order so stop me soon or here we go!” he texted at one point, then followed that with, “Deal’s done” — Banks said that was all a “charade.” He never received tickets or a refund, his lawsuit alleges.
Hager was apologetic on March 18, after nine days of not answering Banks’ frantic texts. He blamed a family matter but said, “That’s my problem and no excuse.” Hager vowed to repay Banks, with interest: “You have my word, even though I’m sure it’s meaningless.”
“First and foremost man, I hope all is well with your family,” Banks responded a few hours later. “But holy (expletive) you have stirred up a HUMONGOUS hornets nest…could’ve easily been avoided with a single text back…unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
“This whole situation had me very confused and questioning a lot,” Banks said, noting that he had been in the ticket resale business “a long time” and was looking forward to getting repaid at their March 21 meeting. “Get it rectified on Thursday at 4. No hard feelings.”
“Thanks brother,” Hager responded. “It will be rectified.”
It wasn’t, so Banks is suing Hager for fraud, civil theft, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, among other claims. Hager’s wife, Angie, is also a defendant because she was sent $2,000 of Banks’ money as part of the payment app shuffle, according to Banks’ lawsuit.
According to an online biography, Hager “has sold everything from risographs to door-to-door accident and disability policies” in his career. He was the CEO of American Financing and lived in Centennial when making the ticket deal with Banks, according to the lawsuit. He now lives in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and works for a company called Current Advisors.
Banks is represented by Myles Johnson and Ethan Sumida of Johnson Law Group in Colorado Springs. They declined to discuss details of the case they filed in Adams County.
Reached by email soon after he was sued, Hager initially agreed to discuss the Banks matter with BusinessDen, but did not answer follow-up emails and phone calls for two weeks.
Meanwhile, Hager faces an unrelated, six-figure lawsuit in Arapahoe County District Court.
On Thursday, he was sued by Dave Logan and Ryan Clune. Logan said he loaned Hager $300,000 and wasn’t repaid. Clune said he invested $275,000 in Mustard Seed Media, a podcasting company that Hager founded, and then determined “Hager was engaged in fraudulent conduct or illegal activity.” Clune is suing to get his money back.
Taylor Swift performs during night one of The Eras Tour in Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Friday, July 14, 2023. Thousands of fans crowded the stadium to enjoy the sold-out concert. (Grace Smith/The Denver Post)
It was March 11 and John Banks could see a $200,000 deal slipping through his fingers.
“Am I missing something here?” he texted Tim Hager, a mortgage executive he’d paid $37,000 for concert and sports tickets. “I’m definitely on the edge of my seat my man.”
Banks was missing something: the tickets. And Hager didn’t have them either, according to nearly 200 text messages that BusinessDen obtained in a records request.
“No need to hear my excuse on this but I’ll get you your money back plus interest,” Hager texted on March 18. “Send me the total with any $ you lost if you pre-sold anything.”
But three days later, Hager backed out of a meeting with Banks at a south Denver bank and cut off contact, according to a May 2 lawsuit. He has since moved to Puerto Rico.
How Banks, a ticket reseller in Commerce City, came to know Hager, at the time the CEO of American Financing in Aurora, is not apparent from that lawsuit and the texts attached to it as exhibits, and both men declined to discuss their ticket-scalping enterprise gone wrong. But it’s not the only lawsuit this month that accuses Hager of ripping off his business partners.
Banks first texted Hager on Feb. 22 to see if the latter could get him tickets for resale. Hager, a former radio exec who ran iHeart Radio’s nine Denver stations from 2014 to 2020, boasted that he “can buy pretty much anything at face value” because of his extensive contacts in sports leagues and the music industry. “Nationwide tell me what you want,” he texted.
“The ones worth paying face (value for) without knowing logistics are Taylor Swift,” Banks texted back, referring to the pop superstar’s ongoing and record-breaking Eras Tour.
Tim Hager was the CEO of American Financing, a mortgage company in Aurora. (Mustard Seed Media)
Banks also asked about tickets to the then upcoming NCAA Tournament and Hager said he could get 150 tickets for $29,475: “If you say we can make $ I’m in. We split cost and profit.”
Banks texted back, “150 strips…$29,475 let’s rock!! Let me know how we proceed!”
Banks, who claims now that he had a contract in place to sell those same tickets for more than $200,000, paid Hager $37,324 for concert and basketball tickets, his lawsuit claims. Because payment apps have limits, Banks had to send the money across several of them, which Hager referred to as “the Venmo, PayPal, Cash App shuffle!” in their text messages.
Though Hager claimed to have bought the tickets — “I’m sending the order so stop me soon or here we go!” he texted at one point, then followed that with, “Deal’s done” — Banks said that was all a “charade.” He never received tickets or a refund, his lawsuit alleges.
Hager was apologetic on March 18, after nine days of not answering Banks’ frantic texts. He blamed a family matter but said, “That’s my problem and no excuse.” Hager vowed to repay Banks, with interest: “You have my word, even though I’m sure it’s meaningless.”
“First and foremost man, I hope all is well with your family,” Banks responded a few hours later. “But holy (expletive) you have stirred up a HUMONGOUS hornets nest…could’ve easily been avoided with a single text back…unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
“This whole situation had me very confused and questioning a lot,” Banks said, noting that he had been in the ticket resale business “a long time” and was looking forward to getting repaid at their March 21 meeting. “Get it rectified on Thursday at 4. No hard feelings.”
“Thanks brother,” Hager responded. “It will be rectified.”
It wasn’t, so Banks is suing Hager for fraud, civil theft, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, among other claims. Hager’s wife, Angie, is also a defendant because she was sent $2,000 of Banks’ money as part of the payment app shuffle, according to Banks’ lawsuit.
According to an online biography, Hager “has sold everything from risographs to door-to-door accident and disability policies” in his career. He was the CEO of American Financing and lived in Centennial when making the ticket deal with Banks, according to the lawsuit. He now lives in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and works for a company called Current Advisors.
Banks is represented by Myles Johnson and Ethan Sumida of Johnson Law Group in Colorado Springs. They declined to discuss details of the case they filed in Adams County.
Reached by email soon after he was sued, Hager initially agreed to discuss the Banks matter with BusinessDen, but did not answer follow-up emails and phone calls for two weeks.
Meanwhile, Hager faces an unrelated, six-figure lawsuit in Arapahoe County District Court.
On Thursday, he was sued by Dave Logan and Ryan Clune. Logan said he loaned Hager $300,000 and wasn’t repaid. Clune said he invested $275,000 in Mustard Seed Media, a podcasting company that Hager founded, and then determined “Hager was engaged in fraudulent conduct or illegal activity.” Clune is suing to get his money back.
