US probes Live Nation, AEG COVID-19 concert cancellations

(Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal antitrust probe of Live Nation and AEG's response to concert cancellations at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Live Nation confirmed while denying any collusion on Thursday.

The probe is focused on whether the live-event companies colluded on refund policies for canceled concerts, according to an earlier report by Bloomberg News.

Collusion with competitors can be a criminal offense under antitrust laws. Probes do not always result in charges.

Live Nation executive Dan Wall said "it is not illegal for artist agents, promoters and ticketing companies to work together to solve the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic."

"While Live Nation contributed to this industry effort in good faith, we set our own unique policies and refund terms to support fans and artists. We did not collude with AEG or anyone else. We are proud of our leadership during those trying times, and if any charges result from this investigation, we will defend them vigorously," he said.

Live Nation shares were down 2.6% in after-hours trading.

Spokespeople for AEG and the DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

The DOJ has filed a separate civil case seeking to break up Live Nation, and accusing the company and its TicketMaster unit of illegally inflating concert ticket prices and hurting artists.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Daniel Wallis and David Gregorio)

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