Martin James Tirrell allegedly told investors he could make them a profit by ticket flipping, according to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
According to court documents, 65-year-old Martin James Tirrell, known to some as the “Mouth of the Midwest” for his role as a host of sports talk radio shows on 1460 KXNO and 1700 The Champ, was arrested on Monday. He was on supervised release for a 2019 mail fraud conviction when the arrest took place.
This time around, Tirrell allegedly “portrayed himself as having connections within the sports and entertainment industries, thereby enabling him to have access to tickets to highly popular sporting events and concerts,” along with additional resale avenues where he could “re-sell tickets for high demand events at a substantial profit.”
As host of a sports talk podcast and radio show through his entity “Tea Room Broadcasting,” he certainly looked the part.
His indictment says he was provided money by “investors” under the agreement he would use the cash to buy tickets to high-demand events, then sell them for a profit in a practice referred to as “ticket flipping.”
The document alleges that Tirrell used most of the money he was given for use in ways not authorized by the investors, “and not in furtherance of the ticket flipping agreements.”
These unauthorized uses included “gambling and other personal expenses, making payments to other investors as purported returns on their funds, and repaying loans.”
During an estimated time period from February 2024 to January 2025, officials say Tirrell initiated his scheme on various individuals, first gaining trust by establishing a personal or business relationship.
Then he allegedly offered the opportunity to buy into his purchasing and reselling of “select, high demand tickets” to events that included the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Major League Baseball playoff games, National Football League playoff games, Indiana Fever games and Taylor Swift concerts.
To earn investors’ trust and make the ticket-flipping look legitimate after spending some of the money on unauthorized purposes, Tirrell reportedly paid back investments with profit by using “new funds received from the same investor for subsequent ticket purchases, funds received from other investors for ticket purchases, or funds obtained by Tirrell through other means.”
Court documents show he falsified memos to increase the appearance of legitimacy. When giving investors new opportunities for ticket-flipping, he made false representations and further concealed his practices.
When investors asked asked for and demanded their funds back with the profits they expected, Terrill allegedly told them the deals were delayed.
According to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Tirrell made his initial court appearance on Monday and his trial is set for Dec. 1.
He will remain detained in federal custody pending further proceedings, officials say.
